Push Back the Darkness
by Iruka Sensei871
Summary: When Kakashi awakes in front of the memorial stone in the middle of a snow storm wearing nothing but a hospital gown he is left to pick up the shattered fragments of his life. Kakashi/Sakura, Jiraiya/Tsunade Naruto/Hinata, main character death. I do not own Naruto, nor will I make any money off this story.
1. Chapter 1

Snow settled onto the memorial stone, obscuring the writing. Kakashi brushed the dry powder from the stone and stared.

 _Did it always look so worn?_ He wondered. He had worse problems to deal with, but for some reason his mind locked onto that one question. He was having trouble thinking clearly, and the memorial stone dominated his mind.

 _Why am I standing in front of the memorial stone in a hospital gown?_

He didn't have an answer. He'd just woken up in front of the stone a few minutes ago, almost naked and barefoot in the snow.

 _Something happened here,_ he thought.

The snow was falling fast, and a thin coat already covered Obito's name. Kakashi brushed the snow away again.

 _How did I get here?_

The last thing he remembered was a blow to the head, white lights, and then darkness. Things looked wrong. The differences were subtle, but they were there. The fence was wrought iron instead of wood. The groundskeeper's shack had been painted white instead of green. There were other inconsistencies.

Kakashi knew every inch of the cemetery, or at least he thought he did. _How bad was that head injury?_ He wondered.

A strong gust of wind swept the cemetery, stirring the snow and whipping the thin gown.

 _Some fucking underwear would have been good at least,_ he thought. _How did I get here?_

He noticed that his fingers were numb, only a tingle letting him know they were still there. Dry powder covered his feet, but he could see that they were swollen and blue. _Not good. I need to get inside before I freeze. I'll have to figure this out later._

He could see Jiraiya's house, but as he took his first step his numb feet refused to hold him up.

 _I'm going to be the laughingstock of the afterlife if I freeze in our own cemetery._

He could see the warm light of Jiraiya's living room just beyond the gate. The old mansion had been there almost a century before the graveyard was built. The porch light flickered through the falling snow like a beacon in the night.

Kakashi felt irritated. The house was so close. He half walked, half crawled to Jiraiya's house, cursing whatever had happened to leave him like this.

He knocked on the door and waited. "Jiriaya, open up!" he yelled. His hand was too numb to feel the wood under it as he hit the door.

He heard movement in the house, but the door didn't open. He sat in the doorway and knocked louder. "Come on! It's freezing out here."

He leaned against the door. _I'm so tired. How did this happen?_ He couldn't think any more. Kakashi held his shaking body with his arms.

When the door opened he fell into the house, landing on the floor. The warmth from the house was a sharp contrast to what he'd just left.

"Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked. "Why are you haunting me?"

"Ghosts don't get frostbite," Kakashi said. "I'd hope I'd at least get some clothes if I was dead. Sober up and help me."

Jiraiya pulled him into the house and onto the couch. "How did you get here?" he asked.

"I don't know. I just woke up standing in front of the memorial stone. I think I was out there for awhile. My hands and feet are numb. My ears and nose don't feel great either."

Kakashi saw Jiraiya hold his hand to examine it, but he couldn't feel much. "That looks bad," Jiraiya said. "Tsunade should be home soon. She can look you over then."

"What?" Kakashi asked. "Since when were you and Tsunade living together? That mission was only for a month. The last time I saw you two together she was yelling at you for something or other."

"It's…complicated," Jiraiya said. "There are a lot of things I'm going to have to wait to tell you. I need you to trust me on this."

"I can do that," Kakashi said. He yawned. "I'm going to sleep until she gets here."

"You have to stay awake until I get you warmed up," Jiraiya said. "You need to get into some clothes too. I'll be right back."

When he came back he saw that Kakashi had slumped on the couch and fallen asleep. He shook him gently. "Not yet," he said.

Kakashi sat up and flexed his fingers with a wince. "I'm feeling the fingers a bit. Hopefully Tsunade can save them."

"If anyone can, it would be her," Jiraiya said. "I have this robe. It's way too big, but it will do for now."

Kakashi fumbled with the hospital gown, but his shivering fingers wouldn't work well enough to pull it off.

Jiriaya helped him put the robe on over the gown. His hands felt like ovens to Kakashi's chilled skin. "That should help," Jiraiya said.

He threw a blanket in the dryer. Kakashi listened to the domestic sound of the dryer tumbling.

Jiraiya slipped room temperature bags of water under the robe, tucking them under Kakashi's armpits and on his groin near the femoral artery.

Kakashi didn't even realize his eyes had closed until he felt a cup at his lips and warm liquid pushing against his mouth.

"Swallow a bit," Jiraiya said. "It's just warm tea."

Kakashi drank, feeling the warmth spread to his stomach.

Jiraiya knelt and examined Kakashi's feet. "I don't think I should do anything here. I'm out of my depths. You could probably sleep now."

He lay down and Jiraiya put the warmed blanket over him.

He couldn't sleep well; the pain in his feet and hands kept pulling him back to wakefulness. Jiraiya was sitting in a wicker chair, watching him. Kakashi saw that the Sannin had a sad look.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Kakashi asked.

"A lot has changed since you were injured. This won't be easy."

"You're not making any sense," Kakashi said.

"Don't worry about it right now," Jiraiya said.

When Tsunade came in she gasped and dropped her purse. "Kakashi?" she asked.

"Yeah. Sorry to bust in on you like this, but I seem to be in some trouble."

"What happened?" she asked Jiraiya. "How did he get here?"

"I heard a knock at the door and there he was," Jiraiya said. "He has some bad frostbite."

Tsunade put her hands around a foot. "I have to do this slowly, or you could go into shock."

As feeling returned to his foot he hissed from the pain.

"I know," Tsunade said. "It will get better, but the tissues are damaged. You'll need to stay off your feet for at least a day. We can put you in the guest room until you're better. Take your time, sweetie. You can stay here as long as you need – the rest of your life if necessary."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama, but I'm confused. When did you two start living together? Something is really off. Everything out there seemed just a bit different, and Jiraiya won't tell me anything."

She looked at Jiraiya. "You didn't tell him?"

"I don't know where to start," Jiraiya said. "I think we should let him get well and break the news slowly."

"I'm right here," Kakashi said. "Talk to me, please."

"There have been a lot of changes," Tsunade said. "Some of them are going to be very disturbing. You know I'd never do anything to hurt you; I need you to let us take care of you."

"I'm already disturbed," Kakashi said. "Do I have a choice here? Is this an order?"

"I can't give orders anymore," Tsunade said. "I'm not the Hokage now."

"When did that happen?' Kakashi asked.

"That's enough talking," Tsunade said. "Go to sleep. When you wake up we'll talk more. You can stay on the couch for now. I'll get the spare room ready."

He heard them talking quietly in the kitchen. Tsunade was crying. "I can't believe it," she said. "It's almost like I've had a son come home."

"He just showed up like a stray puppy," Jiraiya said. "I hope he'll be ok."

"I don't know," Tsunade said. "I can heal him physically, but I don't know how he's going to handle hearing about all the changes that he missed."

"How do we tell him about Sakura?" Jiraiya asked, "and Aria?"

 _Who the hell is Aria?_ Kakashi wondered.

"I don't know," Tsunade said. "We'll just have to break it to him slowly."

Kakashi couldn't stay awake any longer. Even the pain in his extremities couldn't keep him from succumbing to exhaustion.

When he woke the house was silent, save for the soft ticking of the living room clock. He tried to ignore the growing urgings of his bladder; he didn't want to deal with the pain walking to the bathroom would cause. He was lucky Tsunade had healed him. If she hadn't he might not have ever been able to walk or use his hands again.

He watched the clock tick slowly, and about 4 am he couldn't put off his need any longer. He hobbled slowly to the bathroom and relieved himself.

 _Did he really let her put a fuzzy purple toilet snuggy in here?_ Kakashi wondered. _I knew he was whipped, but damn._

When he turned to the sink, he stared at the stranger in the mirror. His grandfather stared back.

Kakashi touched his face for the first time since he'd awakened, feeling the ridges and hills of wrinkles he'd never had before. His hair had changed from silver to the white of old age.

 _What the hell happened to me?_

Jiraiya found him that way 2 hours later, sitting on the toilet and staring at his reflection. "Oh shit," Jiraiya said. "I didn't think of this happening."

"What kind of jutsu was used on me?" Kakashi asked. "Is this like your youth jutsu reversed or something?"

"Let's not talk about this here," Jiraiya said. "Come back to the couch and I'll get Tsunade. You aren't supposed to be on your feet anyway."

Kakashi found it harder to walk to the couch than it had been to get to the bathroom, and as Jiraiya helped him his stumbling steps were only more of a reminder of how much had changed. He sat on the couch, waiting. It felt just like when he was a child, waiting to speak to Obito's parents in their living room while their servant fetched them, or waiting for news about how his father's corpse was to be disposed. How many times had he waited for bad things?

He could hear Jiraiya and Tsunade talking in the next room. "I need your help," Jiraiya said. "He saw himself in the mirror. I have to explain, and I don't want to do this alone."

"I'm here for you, honey," Tsunade said. "It had to happen sooner or later. I just wish he could have had some more time."

They sat down across from the couch. Jiraiya fidgeted.

"Would you just tell me what happened already?" Kakashi asked. "What happened in that battle?"

"It wasn't the battle," Tsunade said. "You were hit in the head, and we couldn't wake you. You've been in a coma."

The truth began to soak in. "How long?" he asked.

"17 years," Jiraiya said.

"I'm 50?" Kakashi asked. "I lost almost half my life?"

"I'm sorry," Tsunade said. "You should probably wait to hear more."

"I heard you say something about Sakura last night. I want to know about her. I had something really important we needed to talk about when I got back from my mission. She probably thinks I blew her off."

Jiraiya and Tsunade exchanged a look. "You should probably find out the things that happened slowly," Tsunade said.

"Could you at least let Sakura know that I didn't forget her? It's important."

"I'm sure she knows," Tsunade said, her eyes tearing up again.

Jiraiya hugged Tsunade. "It's ok, baby. It's ok."

Kakashi lay down and put his arm over his head, hiding from the world. "I've had enough," he said. "I can't deal with any more right now."

"You don't have to," Tsunade said. "I'm going to let your friends know you're awake, and when you're able to see them I'll let them in. They all look a lot older. The Sannins are the only ones who use the youth jutsu."

"I need to report to the Hokage," Jiraiya said. "He should be awake by now."

"I'll stay here," Tsunade said. She kissed him. "We have Kakashi back. It's more than we really hoped for. The rest will work itself out in time."

Kakashi lay there, unable to sleep but not wanting to get up. He just wanted things to be the way they were. Everyone would be old, and he'd never gotten to talk to Sakura. He didn't want her to think she'd just been a one-night stand.

 _She's probably been married for decades. I wonder if she even really remembers me._

Jiraiya woke him with lunch. "No thank you," Kakashi said.

Jiraiya put his arm around Kakashi's shoulder. "I know how rough this must be, but it won't get better while you're physically down. Eat what you can."

Kakashi managed a few bites of the sandwich. It was tasteless and just fell on his stomach like a brick. He shook his head and handed the plate back to Jiraiya. "Later," he said. "My stomach isn't steady."

Jiraiya stopped him from lying back down. "I know you're depressed, but sleeping too much won't help. You're behind on the Icha-Icha series by 3 books, and I started a whole new series after that – Love and the Samurai."

He handed Kakashi a book, and he saw that the title was Icha-Icha Medic Nin. "That's the one that finally got Tsunade to accept me," Jiraiya said. "She heard that the book was about her, and she read it. I never could explain how I felt about her, and when she read it she just kissed me and never fussed about my books again."

"I'm glad you two worked that out," Kakashi said. He began to read.

"I knew that would get your attention," Jiraiya said. "Enjoy yourself today."

"Mmmm," Kakashi said, already distracted by the new book.

Tsunade came in, dressed in civilian clothing. "The Hokage wants to meet you," she said. "He's outside."

"Who is the Hokage now?" Kakashi said.

"Konohamaru," Tsunade said. "He's done a good job. We're a strong merchant village as well as a ninja village now."

When she opened the door he didn't recognize Konohamaru. "Asuma?" he asked.

Konohamaru laughed. "I guess I do look like my uncle," he said. "He and dad were twins. I'm glad to see you back. How are you feeling?"

"Confused," Kakashi said. "I want to see my friends, especially Haruno Sakura."

"I'll see what I can do," Konohamaru said. "I'm deferring to Tsunade on this. Don't start training until she clears you. I'll have to make sure you're briefed on all that you missed."

"I understand," Kakashi said.

After he left, Kakashi said, "it's amazing how much he looks like Asuma."

"He's more serious," Tsunade said. "He's incredibly driven. He acts more like his grandfather than his father."

"It seems like Konoha is in good hands then," Kakashi said. "I feel better about that."

"Gai wanted to come over later," Jiraiya said. "Do you think you're up to it?"

"Yeah. I can't imagine Mr. Youth getting old. I wonder if he'll still make up stupid challenges for me."

"He's managed to stay young-at-heart," Jiraiya said. "He's Head of the Academy."

"That sounds about right," Kakashi said.

He buried himself in Jiraiya's book. It wasn't the first time he'd hidden from reality inside a novel.

Gai's smile fell when he saw Kakashi. "Wow," he said. "I guess we both got old, huh?"

"I'm still not used to it," Kakashi said. "Tell me about yourself. What did I miss?"

"I work at the Academy now," Gai said. "I may not be young anymore, but I can help the youth."

"How is Lee?"

"He married a civilian named Kishiko. He actually used 7 of the gates once and survived. He had a hard time for a few years after Sakura's death, but…" he stopped at the shock on Kakashi's face.

"She's dead?" he asked.

"Oh god. I'm so sorry. I assumed you knew."

Kakashi barely heard Gai. Sakura was dead, and she'd probably died thinking he'd just used her for sex.

"Kakashi?" Gai asked.

"Sorry. That just comes as a shock," Kakashi said. "I can't believe I'll never see her again."

"Do you want me to leave you with your grief?" Gai asked.

"Yes," Kakashi said. "It's good to see you, but I have to think about this."

Jiraiya had stayed in the kitchen to give them some privacy. When he came back he found Kakashi sitting slumped on the couch, his head in his hands.

"Sakura's dead," he said. "She's dead and I didn't even get to say goodbye. How long ago did it happen?"

"It's been about 7 years," Jiraiya said.

"Did she have a good life?"

"She ran the hospital for a few years, and she made Jounin a year before she died. She never got over your death, but her daughter helped her get by."

"She had a daughter? I'm glad for her; she deserved a family."

Kakashi didn't miss the signs of deception on Jiraiya's face.

"You never could fool me," he said. "What are you hiding from me?"

"It's not that I want to hide anything from you," Jiraiya said. "It's just that I'm concerned about how much you can handle."

"I'm going to find out, and I'd rather not hear anything else like I learned Sakura died."

"Sakura gave the girl her father's name. Hatake Aria."

"Hatake? You mean I have a daughter?"

"Yes. Sakura said you were the father. Aria reminds me of you – at least the younger you, before you got the Sharingan."

"I was a real asshole back then," Kakashi said. "Are you trying to tell me nicely that she's a jerk?"

"She's intense," Jiraiya said. "After Sakura died she became obsessed with revenge against Orochimaru for killing Sakura and injuring you. She's a good girl; she's just kind of – well – dark."

"I can't believe I failed Sakura and a daughter I didn't even know I had. It might have been better if I never woke up."

"You've been blaming yourself for everything bad that happened in your life since you were a kid. Your father decided to kill himself, and Obito decided to save your life. Those were their choices. I know that if you had been able you would have been a good father."

"I hope she'll let me get to know her," Kakashi said.

"I think she will," Jiraiya said. "Sakura made you out to be a real hero. Aria kept all your things. She always hoped you'd wake up."

"I'd like to speak to her," Kakashi said. "I hope she doesn't hate me."

"Weren't you listening? She idolizes you."

"I don't deserve it," Kakashi said.

"Well, you're just as emo as you were before the injury," Jiraiya growled. "No sense looking on the bright side when there is so much darkness to wallow in, huh?"

"Sorry. I'll work on it."

"I shouldn't be so hard on you," Jiraiya said. "You just sound so much like Aria right now. She drives me nuts sometimes."

"You two are close?" Kakashi asked.

"After Sakura died Aria lived with Tsunade and me for a couple years. She moved back into her childhood house when she was 13. We tried to talk her out of it, but she has a stubborn streak a mile wide – like someone else I know. I'll go speak with her. You don't worry too much about it, if that's possible."

She wasn't at her house, of course. Jiraiya couldn't remember the last time he could find Aria anywhere other than her lab. He made his way to Orochimaru's abandoned house and spoke with the ANBU guard.

"I love the way you two have brightened the place up," he said.

"Do you mean the paint outside?" Dog asked. "The Hokage thought we should make the house look less clandestine. The inside looks the same. Aria doesn't care about things like that."

"She doesn't have much of a sense of aesthetic, does she?" Jiraiya asked.

"She's busy with more important things," Dog said. "She does critical work."

"She's always too busy," Jiraiya said. "I hope she learns to slow down and experience life."

"I wish she would," Dog said. "I worry about her."

"I hope you don't worry too much to remember your duty," Jiraiya said. "I know you care for her personally, but don't forget that the reason you're here is because her experiments are top security. She needs an ANBU, not a friend."

"I've never forgotten my duty yet," Dog said. "I think you're wrong about her not needing a friend. She's here all the time. When is the last time you knew her to talk to anyone about anything except work?"

"It's been a long time," Jiraiya said. "I see her when she's not busy, but she hasn't really talked to me seriously in years."

"That's because she's always here. I don't know what she's doing in there, but she's been acting weirder over the last few months."

"I have something to tell her that might help," Jiraiya said. "Her father came out of his coma."

"Are you serious? That's wonderful! Maybe she'll quit being so obsessed with whatever it is she's doing in there."

Jiraiya didn't like Orochimaru's house. He never had, but was worse now than ever before. The outside of the house had been painted, but the inside had been left to decay. Aria had taken it over as her lab years ago, usurping Orochimaru's work with her own. Since no one lived there and Aria didn't care about the place it had been left to rot. One corner of the living room had fallen in, leaving insulation hanging onto the floor. An old, dusty sofa was the only furniture in the room.

"She really made the place look homey," Jiraiya said. "I'm going to make sure she's taking care of herself."

He headed toward the kitchen. A worn table that was probably there since Orochimaru's time leaned precariously. Wallpaper stained brown with age peeled from the wall, and the stove was obviously broken, with the filthy door hanging on one hinge. A microwave and toaster gleamed on the counter, a contrast to the decay around them. A mini-fridge hummed in the corner, near the full sized fridge that he guessed was broken.

"You act like I'd let her starve," Dog said. "You know I care about her. I'd do something to make this place more cheerful if she'd let me. She told me not to touch anything in the house, and when I wear the mask she's my boss."

"I know," Jiraiya said. "She's my goddaughter, and I just want to see for myself."

He opened the mini-fridge to see it fully stocked. "At least she eats properly," Jiraiya said.

"I buy good food," Dog said. "You do this every year about this time. Stop worrying so much. I'm not going to let her starve."

"You're a good kid, Dog. Does she know how you feel about her yet?"

"No, but I hope that after Orochimaru is dead we can be together."

Jiraiya thought that if Dog wasn't wearing a mask he'd probably see pain there.

"I'm willing to wait," Dog said

The lab's entrance was a door with an old-fashioned hatch. It had been reinforced with thick steel, and stood 8 feet high.

"She doesn't take any chances," Dog said.

Dog pressed a buzzer. "Aria, Jiraiya-sama wants to see you."

Static filled the air.

"Aria?" Jiraiya said into the intercom. "I need to speak with you. It's important."

"Can't right now," Aria said. She was breathing fast. "I'm in the middle of a vital experiment."

"I wouldn't bother you if I didn't have to," Jiraiya said.

"It has to wait," she said. Jiraiya and Dog heard a crash in the room.

"Do you need help?" Dog asked.

"No, things are getting difficult in here," Aria said. "I can handle it."

Something hit the door, leaving a dent shaped like a large hand. "I have to go," Aria said. "Come back tomorrow."

Dog pressed the buzzer again, but this time there was no answer. "I'm sorry, Jiriaya-sama, but when she gets like this she won't come out until she's finished. It's locked from the inside. You'll have to wait."

"What do you think made that dent?" Jiraiya asked.

"I don't know. She won't tell me anything about her work. She reports to the Hokage, but she's close mouthed about these experiments."

"Maybe her father can help set her straight," Jiraiya said. "She started getting weird after Sakura-kun died. Having a father might help."

"I'll be back." He looked at the dent in the door. "I just hope she hasn't gotten herself in too deep."

When he got home Tsunade was sewing, making another of those annoying little lace doilies she liked so much. After she hit 60 she'd developed old lady habits. _I hope she doesn't sew one of those to cover my coffin,_ he thought.

"How is Kakashi?" Jiraiya asked.

"He's sleeping. His feet still hurt, but he could walk more if he tried. He's too depressed right now. Can you take over? If we're going to be feeding one more I need to go shopping."

Jiraiya stood in the doorway of the guest room, looking at his friend sleeping. He remembered a vibrant, powerful young man, but now Kakashi was a broken, sad shadow of who he had been.

"Get up," he said. "It's 2 in the afternoon. You were a mopey kid, and a mopey adult, and now you're a mopey middle-aged man. In 30 years you'll probably be a mopey old fart. Let's get out of here and have a beer."

Kakashi sat up and scratched his head. He looked away from Jiraiya. "I can't quit thinking about Sakura. I'm afraid she died thinking I didn't care about her. I left her with a baby to raise alone."

"She didn't raise Aria alone," Jiraiya said. "Aria spent more time playing at Naruto's house than she did at her own place. Before Sakura died Aria had lots of friends and even a couple little boyfriends. One of them is still waiting for her to realize she loves him."

"What happened after Sakura died then?" Kakashi asked.

"Tsunade and I took her in. Aria needs you, but she didn't lack for love. She still doesn't. She's just in that shithead stage kids go through. She'll grow out of it."

 _If she doesn't get herself killed first,_ Jiraiya thought. He had a bad feeling about anything that could change a person this much. He wished she'd never started doing those experiments she was so into.

"Did Sakura ever say anything about what happened between us?" Kakashi asked. "I hate thinking about how we left things. It was just something that happened. Somehow our relationship changed over a few months; we got closer, and then one night after a party she ended up at my house. I woke up late for a mission and had to rush off. I told her I'd talk to her when I got back, but that's what every guy says when he's done. I never told her I loved her."

Jiraiya saw how dead Kakashi's eyes looked, empty and dark. "Your teammates said the only thing you said before you passed out was her name. She knew how you felt. She hung onto that the rest of her life."

"I guess that's something," Kakashi said.

"I know this is sudden. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I don't think so," Kakashi said. "I'd like to see Naruto and Asuma. I want to know how they're doing. It hurts, but I can walk."

"I saw Naruto yesterday, and he's so excited he can barely stand it. He wants you to meet his children, and he'll probably talk your ear off. He could come over here, but it would be good for you to get out. He doesn't live far away."

"He and Hinata had kids, huh? Who do they take after?"

"They take after him physically, mostly. They have his attitude, except for the youngest. She's as shy as Hinata, and she looks just like her."

"How many are there?" Kakashi asked.

"They had four kids – three boys and a girl. Do you want to go over there later?"

"Tomorrow," Kakashi said. "I don't feel up to it tonight."

"You won't feel up to it tomorrow either," Jiraiya said. "It's not disloyal to Sakura to enjoy something. I'll go to the Hyuuga compound and see when he and Hinata will be home."

"I'd rather see Naruto first," Kakashi said. "I never knew Hinata very well. I want a chance to talk to Naruto without her around."

"Come on then. Get your mopey ass out of bed and get cleaned up. I'll be back later, and I expect you to be awake and ready to go."

Kakashi heard Tsunade in the kitchen. With the way she'd been acting he expected to find her doing something domestic, so he was surprised to find her reading the first Icha-Icha book.

She started when he snickered, and she covered the book with her arm quickly. "I was just…it's not…" She composed herself. "It's none of your business."

"I told you those books were good," Kakashi said. He sat at the table. His feet still gave him trouble.

"You were right," she said. "How are you feeling?"

"Poorly," Kakashi said. "I'm grateful to you two. I don't know what I'd do without you right now."

"You won't ever have to know," she said. "This is your home for as long as you need it."

He couldn't remember her being this sentimental before. He put it down to old age. _She must be 70 or 80 now._ With the youth jutsu he'd never been sure of her age.

"Thank you, Tsunade-himi."

"Do you have any plans yet?" she asked.

"The most important thing right now is to try to be Aria's father, if she'll accept me. Other than that I just want to get back to training as soon as my feet can handle it. How is my body as fit as it is? I should have acute atrophy."

"A physical therapist worked with you every day. We couldn't keep your body up to the levels it would be if you were training, but we managed to keep your muscles flexible. You are still a valuable tool. " She smirked. "When you've trained for a while we should spar."

"Er…I don't know if that's a good idea."

"Why? Do you think I'm just an old lady who can't defend herself anymore?" She picked up her knitting needles from the table, spun them around and struck, stopping just before she would have put out his eye.

He blinked at the metal in front of him, which he'd barely even seen move. "No ma'am. I know better."

"That's good. I'd hate for you to be too surprised when I kick your ass."

 _Some things never change,_ he thought.

When Jiraiya came back he found Kakashi in his dojo, testing his body, with Tsunade spotting him. "Are you sure you're ready for that?" he asked.

"Tsunade healed my hands. They aren't having any problems; it's only the feet that are slow healing. This makes me feel like I'm doing something useful.

Tsunade finally left to do her shopping.

"Naruto said the kids will be home about 5 and Hinata won't be back from her mission for a while. We have about an hour and a half if you want to see him alone."

The walk to Naruto's was surreal. Things were almost right, but not quite. The convenience store that would sell him beer after hours was gone. He saw a new flower shop where his favorite bar had been.

"What happened to The Blue Azalea?"

"It burned down. We had some wild times there, didn't we?"

"Yeah. Is Icharaku's still around?"

"That place isn't going anywhere. Ayame runs it. She introduced a few new recipes. We should go over there sometime."

A new rose garden, an art museum, and a trendy coffee shop made him wonder how much the village had grown. "Konoha got some class, huh?"

"That's Konohamaru's influence. He wants us to be more than a military village. We actually have a tourist industry. Konoha is thriving, and we're still strong."

"How did Naruto take not being Hokage?" Kakashi asked.

"He said he's going to outlive Konohamaru and be the next Hokage. They're rivals now. It's cute – kind of reminds me of you and Gai. They take turns ambushing each other and yelling "if you were my enemy you'd be dead." It keeps them on their toes."

It took them a long time to reach the Hyuga compound, and what would have been a five minute walk turned into a 30 minute broken stroll as Kakashi stopped at various places to rest.

They approached the Hyuuga compound. "They didn't change anything here," Kakashi said.

"This place has been the same for over a hundred years. It's not going to change. Naruto's place is really nice. Hanabi is the head of the clan, but Hinata-himi and Naruto have done well for themselves."

Naruto barreled out of his house, running full into Kakashi as he tried to hug him. They both fell on the ground, Naruto laughing and Kakashi trying to get back the breath Naruto had just knocked out of him. A few Hyuga passed by, glanced over, and walked on. _Naruto overacting is probably still normal,_ Kakashi thought.

"Come inside!" Naruto said. "I have so much to tell you."

Jiraiya helped him up.

"Did I hurt you?" Naruto asked.

"No. My feet are just a bit problematic." Naruto put his arm around Kakashi's waist, taking him from Jiriaya, and lead him into the house.

 _He got old too,_ Kakashi thought.

The house was formal, with hardwood floors and delicate paintings of birds and cherry trees. Kakashi could see the influence Hinata's breeding had on their house. There wasn't a bit of orange to be seen. Even Naruto's wardrobe had changed, and he wore the classic camo uniform.

"Come to the back," Naruto said. "This is the fancy room for guests. Hinata insists. She's a diplomat now."

"She always was a peaceful person," Kakashi said. "Let me just sit a minute." The couch was deep and comfortable, and while Naruto went to the kitchen to get them drinks he dozed off.

He had fallen asleep sitting up, but when he woke he lay on the couch with Jiriaya's oversized shoes off and his shirt opened. Naruto and Jiriaya chatted nearby.

"How long was I sleeping?" he asked.

"Just a half hour," Naruto said. "Why don't you rest?"

Kakashi didn't like the worried looks on his friends' faces. He was already getting tired of being cared for.

"I can rest later. I want to know what I've missed."

They went through a formal dining room into a shabbier room - intentionally shabby, Kakashi thought. "This is the man-cave," Naruto said. "You like it?"

The wood paneled walls were covered with tools and posters of a half-dressed pop star. A work bench dominated one wall; it was filled with carpentry tools.

"You do carpentry now?" Kakashi asked.

"Sometimes it's nice to hide in here. The wife and kids aren't allowed. I love the family, but I need to get away sometimes."

Kakashi looked at the opposite wall covered in family pictures. Naruto was in most of them, grinning with Hinata or children who looked like them, one with his spiky blond hair. A smaller girl tended to hide in the back or almost off camera.

"I'm glad you have a family," Kakashi said.

"It's awesome. I never had a family growing up, and now I have a huge one. I never know what's going to happen day to day. You can meet them all later."

On a corner of a small desk sat a picture of Sakura. It was framed with a black ribbon. Kakashi picked it up. She had the beginnings of wrinkles, but her smile looked genuine. Her eyes had grown somber and somehow more beautiful in her grief.

"She never gave up on you," Naruto said. "She always told Aria you'd wake up. Do you know about Aria?"

"I haven't met her, but I've been told she's a stubborn, difficult girl. Sounds like me when I was younger."

He picked up a picture next to the morning photo. Sakura and Naruto posed with a very serious looking girl of about 7. She had long white hair, green eyes, and a large forehead.

"I guess this is Aria?"

"Yes. I wanted to be her sensei, but she was already ANBU at 8. Sakura always wanted her to follow in your footsteps. She made Jounin when she was 15."

"I'm proud of her already," Kakashi said. "I just wish I could have been a part of it."

"No one blamed you," Naruto said.

Kakashi settled into a folding chair, feeling his feet throb. He found another picture with all of Naruto's family posing with Sakura and Aria when Aria must have been about 10. "You and Hinata really made them family, didn't you?" he asked.

"We did our best," Naruto said. "These photos of Hinata and Aria aren't recent. Hinata gained some weight after the last baby was born, and she won't let anyone take pictures now. We don't see Aria much anymore."

"Why is that?" Kakashi asked.

"She doesn't see much of anyone anymore. She's so focused on her work she doesn't come out much. I don't know what she's doing. All she said is when she's done she'll be able to kill Orochimaru."

"I heard things like that earlier," Kakashi said. "It sounds ominous."

"Orochimaru killed Sakura, and Aria-chan has never forgotten it," Jiriaya said.

They heard the front door slam. "Naruto!" Kakashi heard from the living room. "We're here. Are you ready?"

"I told her to make sure the kids were here about this time," Naruto said. "I wanted to see you alone first. The kids are kind of a handful." They went to an informal parlor, much more homey and welcoming than the official guest reception area.

Hinata stood with Naruto's children. She had lost her young figure, and she had a matronly look. A long black dress with a purple scarf helped her conceal her figure, but Kakashi thought she still looked vibrant.

"We're all glad you're back," she said. "I'd like to introduce our children."

 _When did she become so formal?_ He wondered. It was a trait of the older Hyuugas. She was more confident than she was a child.

The three boys fidgeted while the girl ducked her head shyly. She was an almost exact copy of Hinata.

"The youngest is Edno," she said, pointing to the tallest. He bowed briskly. "Then there's Ai." She ruffled the oldest boy's hair. "This is our eldest son. His name is Kakashi."

Kakashi's eyebrow rose. "Really? Well, sorry for that kid." He grinned. "I bet you're a real hit with the ladies, huh?"

"I have a girlfriend," the boy said.

"He has a few," Naruto said. "I'm glad we didn't name him Jiraiya. We'd have some real problems."

"And this is Sakura-chan," Hinata said. The girl bowed and met his eyes.

"You were named after an amazing woman," Kakashi said.

"I know, sir. I hope to live up to the name."

"You're Aria's father?" Edno asked.

"And you can really split lightening in half?" Ai asked. "Oba-Sakura said you were the best ninja ever."

"She said that, did she?" Kakashi asked. _I'll never see her split a mountain again._

 _Dammit Obito!_ He thought as the tears threatened to flow again. He cleared his throat. "Where is your bathroom?"

Naruto told him, and Kakashi made his way there as quickly as possible, controlling himself until the door was closed. A few minutes later he was composed again, at least outwardly, but even after he quickly washed his face the evidence of tears and slightly swollen eyes remained.

The adults were alone in the sitting room.

"We sent the kids off to stay with their friends tonight," Naruto said.

"You didn't have to do that on my account," Kakashi said.

"We entertain dignitaries, and they are used to leaving for a day or two," Hinata said. "They are too energetic for many people."

"Nice kids," Kakashi said. "I'd love to see them spar sometime."

"Don't let Sakura-chan fool you; she's a tiger on the field. Edno signed the Frog contract. Kakashi studies a lot. He's a real nerd; takes after his namesake." Naruto grinned.

"What about the middle one. What was his name?"

"Ai. He's just like me when I was a kid. Gets in a lot of trouble. He defaced the Hokage monument last year."

"That sounds familiar."

The visit stretched on until Jiraiya and Naruto were talking about old times, and Hinata was watching Naruto with the same distant adoring look she'd had when they were children. Kakashi was almost quiet, listening and watching and trying to absorb too much information at once.

Just as Hinata was suggesting that they eat dinner they heard a loud snore from the couch. Kakashi was sitting up, but his head had dropped onto his chest. He continued to snore, making a couple of snorts and staying fast asleep.

"This might have been too much for him," Jiraiya said. "It took him 30 minutes to get here. I should probably take him home."

Jiraiya shook him by the shoulder. "Hey, wake up. We're going to head out."

Kakashi woke slightly, but his eye was even droopier than his normal lazy look. He looked at Naruto.

"Sensei?" he asked. "I thought you were dead."

"It's Naruto," Naruto said. "Don't you remember?"

"Yeah. You look so much like him. I guess I got confused."

Jiraiya helped him stand, but Kakashi swayed and had to cling to him for support. He lowered Kakashi back onto the couch. "Is it your feet?" he asked.

"Yes, and I feel weak suddenly."

"I'll go to the hospital and get a wheel-chair," Jiriaya said.

"Nonsense," Hinata said. "I'll get a guest-room ready for him."

"Which one?" Naruto asked.

"The one for honored guests of course," Hinata said. "It's the only one appropriate."

Naruto shook his head. "Use the one for family members that we actually like."

Kakashi chuckled. "I don't want to impose. If you give me some time I'll be fine; I'm sure."

Naruto sat on the couch next to him and put an arm around him, pulling his own arm over his shoulders so he could lift him.

"I just wish we could do more," he said.

Kakashi was sleeping almost as soon as he hit the sheets.

"It's only six o'clock," Jiraiya said. "I don't want to mess up his sleeping schedule, but I think he probably won't wake till morning.

"I'll see if I can find him some clothes that don't make him look like an actual scarecrow," Naruto said.

"I was always larger than him, and he's lost weight," Jiraiya said. "Tsunade will probably want to check on him."

When he got home Tsunade was fuming. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick."

"I took Kakashi over to visit Naruto," Jiraiya said. "He gets depressed easily, and I know the signs when I see them. He was too worn out to come back, so they're letting him stay there tonight."

"He shouldn't have been out!" Tsunade said. "He hasn't been out of bed except for physical therapy in almost two decades!"

Jiraiya shrugged. "Hindsight is 20/20. What's done is done. I think it was good for him to spend time with them.

"I'll go take a look at him, and he'll probably be fine, but no more outings until he's stronger, ok?"

"He always had to push himself," Jiraiya said. "If you try to lock him up it will just make him stir-crazy."


	2. Chapter 2

Too Many Things Forgotten

Ch 2

Dog tried to contact Aria several more times, but he wasn't surprised when she only answered with a quick, "Not now!" or nothing at all.

There was another loud thud that shook the entire house, and five minutes later Aria emerged, bedraggled and obviously exhausted. Dog got a brief glimpse into the lab, and he saw that several tables had been overturned, broken glass lay scattered everywhere, and there were scorch marks on the ceiling and floor. A dark, greasy substance covered everything.

Aria slammed the massive hatch, turning the wheel until it was sealed and locking it securely. No one but Aria and the Hokage had a key to that room, and she wouldn't tell Dog anything about what happened inside it.

She pulled off her goggles. Her white lab coat was splattered with blood, and she was breathing heavily.

"Are you ok?" Dog asked. "Where were you injured?"

She looked down at the lab coat. "I'm fine. It's just a little cut." She wiped her finger through the viscous liquid dripping off her coat, and it hung suspended and black as tar. "Most of it isn't my blood anyway. I'm not even sure it is blood."

"Whose is it?" Dog asked. "No one went in there with you."

"Don't worry about it," she said. "I'm nearly finished with my research, and then I can tell you all about it. We'll have the strongest ally a village could want." She grinned, and Dog thought for the thousandth time that her smile had a bit of madness in it.

"I hate it when you get like this," he said. "It scares me."

She took off the ruined lab coat and tossed it into a corner with other cast-off coats, gloves, goggles, and various bit of equipment that she'd burned or otherwise destroyed during her experiments.

"That's more than a cut," Dog said.

Aria looked down at the bleeding gash on her arm. "So it's a deep cut. I'll take care of it." She bandaged herself.

"You get injured in there so often that you have to keep a med kit outside the door!" Dog said. "You can't keep doing this."

"I can't stay and talk. I'm late again, and I have to go. We can talk later." She rushed from the room without saying goodbye.

"Wait!" Dog yelled after her. She was already gone.

He stuck his head out the door and saw her running down the street. "I have to tell you something important. Your father..."

But she was outside of hearing range, and he was stuck there on duty, guarding whatever was destroying the only woman he'd ever cared about.

Aria raced through the streets, watching the setting sun. She stopped at a corner store and bought a simple bouquet of red roses. The clerk got the roses for her as soon as he saw her, and she threw some money on the table and ran out.

"She comes here every week and does that," the clerk said to the new kid.

"She sure is pretty," the kid said. "Whoever she's buying them for is one lucky guy."

She reached the "retirement home", as they called the small hospital where mentally disabled ninjas lived out their fragmented lives, but it was only a few minutes before visiting hours were over. It was just enough time to change out the old roses for the live ones, in case he woke up someday. She wanted the flowers there so he'd know someone remembered him.

She hurried through the halls, determined to get there in time, but as she passed the nurses desk one of them said, "Hatake-san. Wait!"

She ignored the woman and turned into her father's room. "Sorry I'm late," she said. She always talked to him, just in case he could hear her somehow. But then she stopped. The bed that she'd visited once a week and on his birthday for as long as she could remember was empty and made up, her roses were gone, and the emptiness was heavy.

She dropped the flowers in the trash. _I knew it would happen eventually,_ she thought. The nurse came in behind her. "Why didn't anyone notify me?" she asked. _I wish Dog were here,_ she thought.

"We sent word, but no one was able to contact you," the nurse said.

"He died alone," Aria said. "That's the worst part."

"Your father isn't dead, honey. He's gone," the nurse said.

"I know," Aria said. "He's gone and I never got to say goodbye."

"No. He's _gone,_ " the nurse said. "We came in for morning rounds and the window was open and he was just gone."

"How does a man in a coma leave a hospital?" Aria asked. "Make some sense, woman."

"We sent out an alert, thinking someone had kidnapped him to steal his eye. We got word later that he had been found by a friend and was awake. That's all I know."

"He's awake?" Aria asked.

"Yes, but we don't know where he went."

Aria walked slowly home, thinking about where her father might have gone. When she reached her house she only stayed a few minutes. It was too large suddenly - too empty. She had taken to sleeping in Orochimaru's house, commandeering one of the more habitable rooms with cheap, thrift store furniture and whatever suited her simple needs.

 _I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find Gai-sensei at the Academy,_ she thought. _Mom said he was Dad's best friend. He might know where he is._

She ran through a list of the other people he might have gone to. _Mom said he and Oji-Jiriaya were close, and that he was Tsunade-himi's right-hand man. He might have gone there._

When she reached their house no one was home.

 _Papa Naruto was his student, and they were close. He might have gone there._

When Hinata opened the door to find Aria on her porch she dropped all the Hyuga dignity and squealed happily as she hugged her adopted daughter.

"Did you hear? Isn't it wonderful?"

I heard, Oba-Hinata, but I don't know any details. What happened? Where is he?"

"Come in," Hinata said. "Oh, it's so wonderful!"

Naruto, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Gai-sensei, and several people she didn't know where in the foyer, talking in low voices. One was a fierce looking older kunoichi in a fishnet shirt and stockings, and the other looked enough like Konohamaru-sama that she guessed they must be related. Another wore all black, and not much of it at that, showing off his body in an embarrassing way. Konohamaru-sama was there, and he smiled and beckoned for her to come to them.

"I'm glad you came," the Hokage said. "You have to make yourself easier to contact."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," she said. "Where is my father? Can I see him?"

"Tomorrow," Tsunade said. "He's sleeping, and I don't want him disturbed. He's weak, and if we aren't careful he could have a relapse."

"Do you mean he could go into a coma again, before I even see him?" Aria asked.

"We're doing everything we can to help him," Tsunade said. "The children are staying with friends tonight. You can sleep in Sakura-chan's room. Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-himi are staying as well."

 _How should I do it?_ Aria thought. _What should I say to him?_

When Kakashi woke the next morning he wondered where he was. Soft lacy curtains and a white comforter were definitely not from the hospital. It took him a few moments to remember that he was at Naruto and Hinata's house and...

 _What do I do now? My skills must have deteriorated, and I can't live off my friends forever._

A folded uniform lay next to the bed on a table, and as he held it up he realized it was his old uniform, the same as the last time he'd seen it.

 _Aria kept this for 17 years,_ he thought. _I hope she didn't inherit the Hatake insanity._

He looked at himself in the large mirror on the back of the door after he'd put on the uniform. It sagged on him.

 _I look horrible,_ he thought. _I'm starting to train as soon as I can._

He pulled his mask up, glad to finally be able to cover his face. He tied on his hitai-ate and his hair spilled over it wildly, as it always had.

 _That's better, I guess. At least I look like a ninja now._

He pulled at the loose material, which fell away from him. _I hate meeting Aria looking like this._ After tucking his shirt in tightly he didn't look that much unlike the person he remembered, if he didn't look too closely at the wrinkles around his eyes. _I can dye the hair,_ he thought. _I want to look like myself again._

His feet barely hurt. _Tsunade is still the best healer,_ he thought. _I wonder if Gai would be up for a sparring match soon. I need to see how far behind I am._

 _I can spar with my own daughter now,_ he thought, and for the first time his life didn't seem so bad.


	3. Chapter 3

Too Many Things Forgotten

Chapter 3

Kakashi heard voices in the next room, speaking quietly. Naruto's voice rose, and then someone shushed him.

 _They're all waiting for me,_ he thought. _No pressure._

He took one last look in the mirror, adjusted his hitai-ate, and stepped out into a waiting group of friends and family. At any other time he might have noticed how wiry and hawk-like Anko had grown, or how very old Asuma seemed, aged beyond his years by various cares. But all he noticed was the young, nervous girl in front of him.

Hinata placed her hand on Aria's shoulder. "Go on," she whispered. "You've been waiting all your life for this."

Aria stepped forward and bowed. "Honored father, I am so glad to finally meet you. I hope my life will make you proud."

Silence fell over the room as everyone waited expectantly.

"You look..." Kakashi's voice broke. "so much like your mother."

They both stared at each other with too much to say to know where to start.

"I'm sorry you woke up alone," Aria said. "Mom and I visited you once a week, and I left flowers so you'd know someone loved you."

He took her in his arms and pressed her to him, just holding her and stroking her hair. "You have nothing to be sorry for."

Konohamaru motioned toward the door with his head and Kakashi's friends left them alone.

Aria looked up into his face. "I hoped, but I never thought I'd actually get to talk to you. It's been so hard since Mom died."

"I'm here now," he said. "I'm going to stay."

She put his head against his chest, and he closed his eye and held her. "I hope you know I would have been here. I never would have left you alone by choice."

"I know Dad," she said. An alarm sounded on her watch, but she ignored it and turned it off.

"I do hope you can be proud of me," she said.

"I already am," Kakashi said. "I can't wait to see your work."

Aria's face turned grim. "I think I've made some bad choices. If you hear disturbing things about me, remember that I'm doing everything for Konoha."

"I understand," he said. "I was ANBU and a Jounin. We all have to do things that are hard for the good of the village. It just comes with the job."

"No," she said. "It's more than that. I can't talk about it yet, but you might not like me much when you find out."

"Oh, you are definitely a Hatake," Kakashi said. "Don't worry so much over something like that. Let's just get to know each other. Can you at least get a sparring partner and let me watch you fight? I'm looking forward to being strong enough to spar with you myself."

"I'd love that," Aria said. The alarm sounded again. "I have to go take care of an experiment," she said. "I can't put it off. I'll be back as soon as I can. I just can't leave this alone. It's volatile."

"Duty first," Kakashi said. "Jiriaya told me you were like me when I was younger. We have all the time we need. Go do your job."

She raced through the village, begrudging every moment her experiment took from her father. When she reached the house, Dog was waiting outside the vault door, as usual.

"I was trying to tell you earlier," he said. "Your father is awake, but we couldn't reach you."

"I know," she said. She quickly pulled on a flame and acid resistant lab coat. "I want you to meet him, but I have to take care of this."

"Just like every other day, huh?" Dog asked. "You could stop working for a while, you know. Konoha won't fall apart if you take some time to spend with your father."

She stopped spinning the hatch. "It might," she said. "I started something that I have to finish, sort of a chain reaction. I don't know what would happen if I stop now."

The huge door swung outward slowly, and all Dog could see inside was darkness, and something swirling far inside the room, like a mist made of darkness. He thought he could just make out something - a figure of some sort.

"Aria," he said.

She turned toward him for a moment, and he noticed how worn and drawn she looked. "I hate what this research is doing to you."

"It has to be done," she said. The door clanged shut loudly, and he wondered if she'd live through another one of her experiments. The nearby pile of ruined clothing bothered him. Some of the clothes showed battle damage, with rips and tears that looked like they'd been left by claws. Others were tainted with that thick black fluid.

 _How many times have I bandaged her after she left that damn vault?_

Dog looked at the hatch resentfully. _She can trust me. I wish she knew that._ He went to the kitchen and found a mason jar in an otherwise empty cabinet. It was covered in dust, and after wiping it off he washed it.

 _This thing has probably been here since Orochimaru,_ he thought. He'd been one of the ninjas in charge of converting the house for Aria's use, and bits and pieces of Orochimaru's possessions still littered the house. It had been a rush job.

 _She could have used any lab,_ he thought. _This place is haunted by Orochimaru's sickness._

He cut a tainted piece of the last lab coat she'd ruined and put it in the jar, being careful not to touch whatever that liquid was that covered his sample. He couldn't find a lid and had to settle for a dishtowel and a rubber band that he found on the floor in the kitchen. He tucked the jar away in his pack and began another long wait while Aria fought her battles alone.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

When Aria entered her "lab" and turned on the light, she was glad to see that nothing new had exploded or burned, at least as far as she could tell.

She had to use chakra to climb down the wall into the 50 foot hole that Orochimaru had dug under his house, fitted to his whims and needs, and then abandoned eventually. The stairs were a twisted pile of wreckage against the wall.

The whole lab was covered in what she still thought of as "blood", even though she wasn't committed to the idea anymore. It could have been anything. It wasn't even a lab really. It had started out as a proper work area, with tables and glistening glassware, ways to measure and dissect and contain whatever she might need to study. But that was before she'd begun to make headway, before her "visitors" wrecked the place. The tables lay shattered against the wall, and the glassware lay broken in shards and splinters; none of it had been spared. In the center of the room was a black, sooty spot that still appeared greasy and fresh. The goo and burn marks radiated from the center of the room in all directions, only broken by the area she'd been standing, where it had flowed around and over her chakra seal, creating a void against the wall.

It was silent and empty. Not quite empty, but the shadow in the corner was barely visible. "Well," she said. "I'm here. Are you going to show yourself or not?"

In a corner - the same corner it always chose - a black shadow formed in defiance of the light, choosing its own place to form. It lengthened and climbed up the wall until it was about average height for a man, and then it pulled away from the wall and assumed a fully human form.

Aria shuddered. She hated when it appeared. It was so unreal, so wrong. She'd seen summons and mystic enemies, even a Jinchuriki that allowed her demon to overcome her, but this was the most disturbing entity she'd ever encountered. It wasn't black like a regular shadow. It was well defined, with three dimensions and the fluid movement of a human. It was thin and tall, and it watched her. Even without eyes she could feel it watching her. It almost seemed as if it was darker than dark, like the substance that her victims bled. _Not victims,_ she thought. _Subjects._

"You need to clean up in here," the entity said. Its voice had no clear gender or age, and it rarely showed any emotion.

"It's not high on my list," Aria said. "I'm here, as always. Let's get on with it."

The shadow flowed toward her. It moved like a human, even walking as if it needed to move its feet to proceed, when she knew it must be an affectation.

"Patience, student. You should not address me like that."

She took a deep breath and bowed. "Forgive me, Sensei. I am ready to learn." _If it knows I want to leave it will keep me in here all day._

"Why haven't you cleaned up after the last summoning?" the ghost asked.

She almost told it about her father's awakening, but she changed her mind at the last second. "I was distracted, Sensei."

"You are sloppy," the ghost said. "I will teach you more after you clean this room. You must remove the ichor or it might interfere with your next summoning. What happened with the last one?"

"The demon was small," Aria said, "about five feet high, but it was powerful for its size. I managed to bind it, but I couldn't keep it. I applied too much pressure and it exploded."

"You are progressing," the shadow said, "but you need to apply more control. I chose you because I believe you can harness your chakra and control it well enough for our purposes. Between your hereditary intelligence and chakra control you should be able to achieve our objectives."

 _You mean your objectives,_ Aria thought. "Yes, Sensei," she said. _That's fine, whatever you are. I'm using you too._

"Keep trying," the shadow said. "I'm not teaching you until you clean this area. You must learn better habits."

Aria ground her teeth against the anger building. "Yes, Sensei," she said. _What does that thing know about it?_ she wondered. _I bet it doesn't remember what it feels like to be horrified by anything. Cleaning demon guts was the last thing on my mind._

"You're doing well," the shadow said, "but you lack discipline. If you don't learn it on your own I will have to teach you, and you don't want that."

"Yes, Sensei," she said. _I'd better make sure it's not unhappy with me next time,_ she thought. _What would its idea of teaching discipline be?_ She shuddered and decided she didn't want to find out. _Can it interact with the physical world?_

"After you've cleaned the room, summon and bind a demon - a smaller one if you need to, an elemental of some sort. You have to be able to bind one with your will and chakra without destroying it, or we can't progress."

"What are we progressing toward?" she asked.

"You aren't ready for that information," the shadow said. "All you need to know is that I've kept every promise I've made to you, and that when we're finished you can kill Orochimaru."

She usually let the questions stop when the spirit refused to answer, but she needed to know. She'd already done more than she'd ever meant to.

"Forgive me Sensei, but I need to know. Kokage-sama has been asking me questions about my research, and all I can tell him is that I've summoned a spirit that's teaching me how to walk Orochimaru's path without human sacrifice."

It was the first and she hoped last, time she ever heard the ghost laugh. It was a sound of ice and needles. "Do you really think you summoned me, insignificant one? I felt your pull and thought you might be useful to me."

 _Get out!_ her mind screamed, but she ignored her instincts and stayed.

"We are useful to each other," it said. "We both have the same goal, and if you want to kill Orochimaru you'll need me. I won't let him get away with killing me."

"Who were you when you were alive?" Aria asked.

"Don't ask me that again," it said. "It isn't important."

 _It sure as hell is,_ she thought.

"What's important is that Orochimaru is stronger than you'll ever be, and unless you want him to die peacefully in his old age you need me. Don't forget it. I've kept my part of the bargain; everything I've taught you is getting you closer to commanding the jutsus needed to kill him."

"Yes, Sensei," she said. There was nothing more to say.

"I'll be back tomorrow," the shadow said. "I expect better results." It didn't even wait for a response, but faded back into a thin shadow, then a mist, and then nothing.

 _It would help if it would stay while I was summoning demons,_ she thought. _I should ask, but it probably won't tell me why._

 _It's going to take forever to clean this,_ she thought. She'd done it before, and it took industrial-grade cleaner to get the ichor off the floor, ceiling and walls. _Stupid ghost. What was I thinking making a contract like that?_

 _I was thinking that I want to avenge my parents,_ she thought, _and to protect Konoha from that madman._

She estimated four hours of hard work before it would be clean enough to use again, and if the next summoning turned bad and another demon exploded, there would be another four hours of cleanup again.

 _I should start now,_ she thought, but instead she left the vault. _Fuck the ghost,_ she thought. _I'm not missing out on my time with Dad. I'll just work after he's asleep._

When she reached Naruto's house it was empty and dark. She let herself in, hoping that someone was home, and her heart sank when she realized they'd all left her behind.

 _It's my own fault,_ she thought. _Dog was right. I hate what this research is doing to me._

She left the house feeling down and guilty, and she never saw the note that Hinata had left on the door. It had fallen off soon after they'd left and fluttered to the ground behind a shrub.

She walked slowly through Konoha, slouching and with her hands in her pockets, and she fully realized that she had nowhere to go. Her teammates were long gone, one a friendly but somewhat inept Genin that would never advance, and the other a fairly talented field ninja she hadn't bothered to keep up with.

 _Those two held me back anyway,_ she thought, but she wished she'd kept in touch.

Normally, lonely feelings would have just driven her back to the lab, where she could bury herself in research, but tonight it was the last thing she wanted to do.

There was one place she could always confide in someone - at least about her work, and as she made her way to the Hokage tower she hoped Konohamaru-sama was in a good mood - or at least a tolerant one. He'd never been hostile toward her, but she got the idea that he didn't like her research. And she thought he seemed more formal with her than with many other ninjas.

 _I'm an abomination, and he knows it._

She waited in the large outer office, watching the old woman who was his new secretary hard at work. She rushed to files, made notes, changed appointments, but she never seemed to rest.

 _No wonder he can't keep anyone,_ she thought. _I bet she has one of the hardest jobs in the village, but he works even harder._

"Come in Aria-chan," he said and pointed toward a seat. "I hope you have good news for me."

"Not really, sir," she said. "The program is hitting some snags."

"Again?" he asked. "It's only to be expected, I suppose. It's entirely new territory for us. To think that we could pursue Orochimaru's studies without human sacrifice is such an outstanding idea it's almost too good to be true."

"I think it might be too good to be true," Aria said.

"How so?" Konohamaru asked. He put his hands behind his back and leaned forward slightly. She knew she had his full attention.

"I can't quite explain, sir. It's just that the spirit is still teaching me, but it won't tell me what I'm learning. I can summon demons now, but it wants me to contain them. The line between containing a demon and just crushing it is fine."

"I would think with your chakra control you could manage it," Konohamaru said.

"I would too," she said. "I'm starting to think that my _Sensei_ is lying to me. She said Sensei as if the word was filthy to her. "I think he just wants me summoning and destroying demons."

"What would be the purpose of that?" Konohamaru asked.

"I don't know," she said. "Something happens each time, but I don't know what. I _feel_ it, but I'm not able to define what changes. I just know that each time I connect with them easier, and it feels more natural to me to pull them out of their own dimension."

"That's troubling," Konohamaru said, "but it would also be in line with what it told you. If you're going to beat Orochimaru without killing humans, you would have to interact with the spirit world directly instead of indirectly like he did."

"Are you saying I'm the sacrifice, sir?" she asked.

Pictures of the past Kages lined the wall, and Konohamaru looked at his grandfather's. "I hope not," he said. "You need someone to keep you grounded. Is the ANBU I assigned not working out? I had hoped that he could protect you from such things. ANBU are used to dealing with dark matters, and the ones that stay sane are good at keeping a steady head when it comes to hard choices and bad consequences to missions. I chose Dog because of his tenacity and his resistance to reality bending jutsus."

"He's fine," Aria said. "Actually, he's amazing. He barely ever leaves the place. He even sleeps there whenever I work overnight. If it wasn't for him I might have died several times when experiments went badly and I needed medical attention."

"How much does he know?" Konohamaru asked.

"Almost nothing," Aria said. She could imagine Dog without his mask, looking at her with horror and revulsion.

"I assigned an ANBU so you'd have someone with a high clearance," Konohamaru said. "You need to brief him. He can't do his job competently if he doesn't know what he's protecting you from."

"But sir..."

"It's an order," Konohamaru said. "I know you're young for this kind of assignment, but you chose to follow this path, and you have to take responsibility to keep yourself from truly following Orochimaru. He trusted no one, and he confided in no one. You report to me, but you need a partner. If you can't trust Dog enough we can try someone else, but I can't have you doing this on your own."

"Yes sir," she said. There was so much more she would have told him, if she could have found words for it. But how could she describe a feeling, a vague ill feeling when she dispatched a demon, as if she'd killed a human? He would write her off as overly sensitive, but she knew it wasn't empathy. It was something else. And she felt greasy inside afterwards, and dark, as if she'd done something that was so wrong it changed her every time she did it.

 _He'd probably order me to see a psychiatrist,_ she thought.

He excused her, and she went back to the lab. She stopped outside the house. Not only had it been painted for appearance sake, but someone had the idea to plant a flower garden around the front. Whoever had done it had also torn out the dead, skeletal hedges and replaced them with green shrubbery with large pink flowers.

 _That had to be a Yamanaka,_ she thought with disgust. She opened the door to the familiar smell of rot and chemicals that she was accustomed to.

 _This is what this place should look like,_ she thought. She ached for the times that she'd spent with the Uzumaki family and with Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-himi, but she accepted her new place in life.

 _Hokage-sama was right. I chose this way of life. I will defeat it and take its secrets._

She went to the storage closet to fetch the industrial-grade cleaner, and Dog stepped out of his barely-furnished, slightly habitable room with bleary eyes. His shaggy blonde hair was mussed, and he wore only sweat-pants. As usual, seeing him without a shirt made her wonder where the three long scars on his chest came from. They had been from a deep wound, and she knew he must have come near to death.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "You should be with your father. No one works this much."

"Says the guy who never goes home," she said.

"I can't leave you alone here, and I don't trust that vault to keep whatever you summon inside."

"I just had a talk with the Hokage," she said. "He had some instructions concerning you. He said you can't properly protect me if you don't know what I'm doing, and he wants me to confide in you - to brief you on the mission."

"He wants it?" Dog asked. "Not you?"

She looked into that earnest face, and she wanted to tell him the truth almost as much as she wanted him to never find out what she did. Somehow he always looked like he never slept, and she wondered if that was her fault as well.

"I like you," she said. "When you know about this mission you'll never see me the same way again.

"That might be true," Dog said, "but I can think of a few missions that I've done that would shock you. I'm ANBU. Don't underestimate me."

"I don't. I just..." She glanced at the vault, the door that sat silent and forbidding. "Let's just get this over with. You'll understand when you see what I have to do."

As he dressed she stared at the vault, hating everything it represented. Now she had a new reason to hate it. It had taken her away from her father, and it might take her away from the only friend she could really feel like herself with anymore.

Dog said nothing when he returned, but she noticed that he was fully armed, and that his stance suggested battle-readiness. He wore the full ANBU uniform.

 _Good,_ she thought. _At least he's ready._

When she opened the door and entered, she activated chakra under her feet, walked down the wall, and waited for him to follow. She looked up to see him still standing above her, leaning into the doorway. "What the hell happened here?" he asked. "It looks like a tar factory exploded."

"Something exploded," she said. "Come down. Stand in the middle."

"I can barely see in here," he said. "How do you work in the dark?"

"I don't," she said. "The lights keep getting destroyed, and I keep replacing them. I guess I'll have to do it again tomorrow."

Dog reached the bottom and created a ball of chakra in his hand. It rose into the air and stayed a glowing light that cast uneven shadows.

"I didn't know you could do that," Aria said. "What is it?"

"Just a light. I can't do anything with it, but I don't want to talk about jutsus. I want to know what I'm looking at."

He made his way to the center of the room and stood in the middle of the blackened blast zone. It was a clear spot on the concrete, and he looked at how the black goo spread in a circle, except for one area where he assumed Aria had stood.

"You know I want to avenge my parents," Aria said. "This is how I'm doing it. I've taken up Orochimaru's research, and I'm going to achieve his goals without human sacrifice."

"I know that," Dog said. "He was working toward immortality. How does this have anything to do with that?"

"He had other research, more dangerous research that he abandoned. The Hokage and I decided that I'm the ninja best suited to move forward with it. When I'm finished I'll be able to kill him."

"Don't take this wrong, but you'd have to be a hundred years older to kill Orochimaru. I'm not even sure he can die."

"I'm not doing this alone," she said. "I have a Sensei."

"I thought I saw someone in here before," Dog said. "I wondered how he got by me, but it's your assignment."

"I'm not sure what it is," Aria said.

" _It?"_ Dog asked.

"It's a spirit of some kind - a ghost, I think."

"Are you really telling me you have a ghost for a sensei?" Dog asked.

"Yes. That's only the beginning of what's been happening here. How do you feel about me now, knowing that I learn from a ghost? Do you think I'm insane?"

"Are you kidding? I've never heard of such a breakthrough. Whose ghost is it? One of our heros? One of your ancestors? This is amazing!"

"I don't know," she said. "It's stingy with information. It knows a lot about my parents and Konoha. I thought I summoned it when I began my studies, but I just found out that it came to me voluntarily."

"That means that you don't control it," Dog said.

"No, and I don't like that. I don't know what its goals are, but it's teaching me groundbreaking jutsus, so I'll worry about that later."

Dog looked at the black ichor again. "What exactly has it been teaching you?"

She took a second to answer, composing her thoughts. "I've been summoning demons in here."

Dog had been surveying the scene, but his head snapped around toward her. He stood, watching her silently.

"Dog? Say something."

He removed his mask, and she saw the horror she'd feared. "You mean all this time you've been summoning yokai?"

"Yes," she said. She waited for the judgment that she knew was coming, the final realization of what she'd become.

"I can't believe..." he started, and then stopped, looking around the room.

"I've dreaded this day," Aria said. "Say what's on your mind."

"I can't believe you did this alone," Dog said. "Doing this without a partner is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. What if the experiments had gotten out of hand? All those times that I treated you and you blamed chemical explosions, were you lying to me?"

"Yes," she said.

"It can't happen again," Dog said. "From now on, involve me. I want to be here when you do this."

"No," Aria said. "I have to brief you; that's ordered. I don't want to taint you too."

"I'm not an innocent," Dog said. "You have the wrong idea about me. Do you think the Hokage would have put someone with you that hadn't seen enough to work with you?"

"You want to work with me after seeing this?" she asked. "Why?"

"Don't you know?" Dog asked.

And it was there, on his face. Aria wished he'd kept the mask on. "You can't love me," she said. "When this is finished I'll be a monster."

"Then I'll be a monster with you," Dog said. "Anyway, you don't have the luxury of working alone now that the Hokage said to brief me. If you send me away he'll just send someone else."

 _I'd hate that,_ she thought. She didn't want to admit it, but she needed Dog.

"If you really want to work with me I have to clean this mess and try to summon another demon. I've been trying to contain them, but I keep exploding them instead."

"How do you keep them from attacking you?" Dog asked.

"I don't," she said. "It all happens in a few seconds. It arrives, sees me and attacks, but before it can reach me I cast a jutsu that Sensei taught me. It should lock it in a container, but the demons keep exploding. I'm not sure why, and if Sensei knows it won't tell me."

They cleaned the room, and Aria wondered the whole time what Dog's reaction would be after he saw the thing.

"What sort of demons are we talking about here?" he asked.

"Whatever comes," she said. "I don't have anything specific I'm aiming for. I sort of just grab whatever is the right size. It's a little like fishing. I usually get elementals."

"You could get something you can't handle," Dog said.

"I don't try to summon anything large," she said. "So far I've stuck to elemental spirits. They are simple, but not strong."

"Then what did that?" Dog asked, pointing at the door. "What left that imprint on the door?"

"Earth elemental," Aria said. "I'm not calling those again. I can build a chakra wall that defends against wind and fire, and with my own water affinity I can deal with water easily. Earth turned out to be difficult."

Dog shook his head. "It's too chaotic, too undisciplined. If you're doing this you should have safety features built in."

"It's something to work on," she said. "I'm going to start the jutsu, so get behind me and stay in the chakra shield. I'll see if I can get a wind elemental, but I have to take whatever is local."

She pulled a canteen from her belt and laid it in the exact middle of the floor. "Any container will do," she said. After preparing the area with the appropriate jutsus and symbols she stepped back as far as she could.

"Are you ready?" she asked.

Dog put his mask back on. "Do it."

He watched her make lightening fast hand signals, so fast he wasn't sure what a few of them were. Instead of the crisp motions used in making the signals her fingers slid into position, barely finishing one set before beginning another. She had no idea that she'd discovered her father's secret to being able to cast jutsus faster than most other ninjas.

A large black circle appeared in the middle of the room, and it began to shimmer inside. Suddenly Dog could see through the circle into another world, one that didn't look at all like a place he would have imagined demons to be. He had expected something alien – fire and brimstone, or upside down beings. Certainly not something so normal.

It was just a grassy field. Tall dry grass waved in a breeze. In the distance he saw the hazy outlines of a mountain, and the only way he knew he wasn't looking at a lazy, peaceful scene was that he saw something in the far distance flying, and he could tell it had six legs, even from that distance.

 _That must be bigger than the Hokage tower,_ he thought.

Instead of the horrid noises he'd expected he heard the sound of wind in the grass and something that sounded almost like a bird.

"What now?" he asked.

"Now we wait," she said. "This area is infested with elementals. Sensei said they're drawn here because of a natural chakra deposit. Apparently in their world it's like a salt lick for cows."

"And what about that thing by the mountains?" Dog asked.

"I've never seen it come closer than that," Aria said. "Sometimes larger spirits approach, and I shut down the portal. Once one of them managed to get an arm in before I closed the portal, and I had a demon arm in here."

"Aria, is this normal to you now?" Dog asked. "You sound too comfortable with this."

"This is the pleasant part. I used to love this when Sensei showed it to me, until I had to start terrorizing the inhabitants."

"You sound like you like them," Dog said.

"They aren't bad - at least not a lot of the ones I've seen. They just sort of move around and play, or something like playing. The elementals avoid other types of demons, and they the wind elementals zip around and eat, or they communicate with each other. Water elementals are some of the most beautiful beings I've ever seen."

"Wait. They eat?" Dog asked.

"I haven't seen them eat anything but grass and bugs. They seem peaceful. I hate destroying them, except for the Earth ones."

Something that looked like a small tornado drifted across the field and stopped about 20 feet away from the portal. A hand reached out from it, a brown arm that seemed to be made of swirling debris. It pulled out a handful of the dry grass and threw it up, letting it go in the wind and watching as it blew away.

"They do that," Aria said. "I think they just like to watch it."

Another wind elemental came into the field, and the two circled each other. They began to move rhythmically, almost as if performing a simple dance.

"We'll have to wait until one leaves," Aria said. "I don't want to draw it's mate's attention."

"Demons have mates?" Dog asked.

"Elementals do," Aria said. The two elementals reached out and touched hands, and one drifted away. Aria waited until it was far enough away, and she lifted her hands to pull the lone wind elemental into her world.

Dog wasn't watching her hand signs. He was watching the delicate spirit fight the pull of Aria's jutsu. It screamed, a high-pitched howling sound full of storm rage, and Dog saw its mate turn and return toward the field.

Aria used her chakra to pull it, still struggling through the portal. As the portal closed Dog saw its mate reaching toward it.

The elemental had no visible eyes, but as it turned Dog knew it was surveying its surroundings. It zipped from corner to corner of the room and howled. It finally flew back to the spot where the portal had been and reached toward it. It whimpered, a horribly human-like sound.

"Send it back," Dog said. "Summon something evil."

Aria cast another jutsu and the elemental turned toward her as if realizing for the first time that she was the reason it was trapped. A large mouth opened in the otherwise featureless face, wide and full of pointed teeth. Dog could see into the things mouth, and swirling debris flowed out toward them, hitting the chakra field and bouncing off.

"Now I capture it," Aria yelled over the wind. "Or try to. It will probably explode."

"It has a mate," Dog said. "Send it back. Summon something evil."

She opened the portal again, and the elemental rushed toward it. They could see its mate rushing about the field howling dismally, and when the elemental rushed back to its own world it touched hands with the other one. They fled toward the mountain at breakneck speed.

Aria closed the portal.

"Now do you understand?" she asked. "They aren't what we thought they were. They're like animals. I torture and kill innocent animals."

Dog stared at the place where the portal had been.

"Animal research is necessary," he said hesitantly, "but..."

"But I just tore a creature away from its mate, and if you hadn't interfered it would probably be a pile of black goo right now. It might even have children for all I know."

"Isn't there any other way?" he asked.

"The larger ones are more aggressive," Aria said. "We only have that reaction to the smaller ones because they're cute to us. Once I can capture the larger ones it won't feel like murder."

"No wonder you hate this so much," Dog said. "What now?"

"Now I summon one and finish what we started. Sensei will be angry if I don't have one when he arrives, or at least tried to catch one. I know this is disturbing. If you want to leave I'll understand."

"I'm staying," Dog said. "I'm going to see this through to the end."

Aria opened the portal again, and they had to wait 20 tense minutes before a sluggish blob rolled into view. It was a mottled blue-brown, and it rolled around the field. A mouth appeared and it leisurely ate some grass, pulling up clumps of ground with the roots and eating the soil as well.

"Earth Elemental," she said, "but it's just a baby. They're easier to catch if they start eating," Aria said. She pulled it out of its home, and it slunk to the far corner of the lab, whimpering.

"I hate this part," Aria said. She performed another jutsu, and the canteen began to glow. The elemental was pulled slowly toward it, and it clawed at the concrete trying to escape. About five feet away from the canteen it suddenly exploded, sending black goo all over the room and splashing against the chakra shield. The smell of decaying meat hit them.

Aria dropped the shield, and the blood staining it splashed to the ground. "Poor thing," she said.

Instead of being behind her as she'd instructed, Dog had been beside her, looking at the elemental. When Aria spoke her voice was deeper than normal, and when Dog looked at her she seemed to be standing in shadow, even though the light shown directly on her from his chakra ball. He could barely make out something behind her, a darker shadow that faded quickly along with the unnatural shadow covering her.

"What just happened?" Dog asked. "How did you do that?"

"I told you, I tried to put it in a container, but for some reason I'm having trouble."

"Not that," Dog said. "Do you not know what happened to you while you did that?"

"No," she said. "I feel weird after I call them. What happened?"

"You just looked odd, like you were covered in shadow, and I think I saw something behind you for just a second or two."

"I don't know what happened," Aria said. "I'll ask Sensei tomorrow."

" _We'll_ ask it," Dog said.

"It might not like that."

"I don't care," Dog said. "I want to meet your Sensei."

They cleaned the room again, and Aria went to her cot, feeling empty and guilty.


	4. Chapter 4

Too Many Things Forgotten Chapter 4

Kakashi had visited Gai's house with friends and family, but he never felt as happy as when he saw his idiot friend acting entirely how he remembered him. Gai challenged him to several ridiculous challenges; rock, paper, scissors, balancing kunai, and finally a race around Konoha, at which point Tsunade put her foot down.

"That's too much too soon Gai," she said.

"Ah. I forgot," Gai said. "This is just like old times, and I want to get you back out there so we can compete again. The academy students keep me busy, but it's never been the same without you."

The walk back to Tsunade and Jiraiya's house barely tired him. "I'm feeling stronger already," he said.

Tsunade helped him make a training schedule that would allow to become stronger without wrecking his body, and he slept easily that night, finally feeling more at ease.

He began therapy the next day, with a doctor pumping chakra into his muscles while he did simple exercises. It was just 30 minutes, but it felt like a full training session, and he sat outside the hospital on a bench with Jiriaya afterwards to rest.

"I want to see Aria," Kakashi said.

They walked to Orochimaru's old house, and Kakashi was glad to see that someone had taken care of it. It actually looked cheerful.

Jiraiya stopped him from knocking. "You should know something first," he said. "I don't know what you'll see in there, but it's not nice. She doesn't do much with the place, and it's depressing."

Dog answered the door, in full uniform and mask.

"You must be Aria's father," he said. "It's an honor to meet you sir."

"And you're the one that keeps her safe," Kakashi said. "Thank you for that."

Kakashi didn't like the look of the place. _Depressing is an understatement,_ he thought. _I hope this doesn't point toward the condition of her mind._

Aria was in the kitchen with notes spread on a folding table. Jiraiya barely got a glimpse of drawings of creatures before she quickly pulled the notes into a pile and set a clipboard on top.

"I was almost finished anyway," she said. "I can stop early for the day. Can we spar yet? I really want to."

"A little," Kakashi said. "I don't want to cross Tsunade again."

"No one in their right mind does," Aria said.

Jiraiya watched their interaction critically, trying to discern what Aria was feeling. _She seems happy,_ he thought. _I hope it's genuine._

He was tired of standing by as she grew more and more serious, and his suspicions about her work only grew as time went by.

"I'm going to use the bathroom before we leave," he said. When they walked out the door leaving Dog behind to guard the vault, no one saw Jiraiya's clone leave the bathroom and head toward the kitchen. He easily outwitted Dog and took the notes from the table, leaving a pile of paper in its place. He re-entered the bathroom, reading the notes quickly and then slipping them back in their original place. He disappeared, and Jiraiya suddenly had the clone's memories.

Jiraiya, Kakashi, and Aria were walking through Konoha when the clone dissipated.

"Aria, who is the thin dark man?"

Aria stopped in the middle of the road. "How do you know about him? Did he talk to you?"

"I've seen him," Jiraiya said.

"Where have you seen him?" Aria asked. "I thought I was the only one he talked to."

"Aria, what is he?"

"I can't say," she said.

"I have higher security clearance than you," Jiraiya said. "There's nothing that you know that would be off limits to me."

"It's part of my research," Aria said.

"It looks dangerous," Jiraiya said. "What is it?"

"I don't want to talk about work," Aria said. "I just want to enjoy my time with you."

"Aria, are you in trouble?" Kakashi asked. "If you are, we'll help you."

"I have it under control," Aria said. "I'm working with an ANBU in case I need protection, and I can defend myself."

"I don't know many scientists who have to defend themselves against their own research," Kakashi said, "or have things changed that much while I was gone?"

"You wouldn't expect me to do safe work would you?" Aria asked. "What I'm doing is going to revolutionize warfare. Konoha will have an edge that will finally allow us to find and crush Orochimaru, and any other enemies we have."

"At what price?" Kakashi said.

"At whatever price is necessary," Aria said. "I'm a Jounin, Dad; I have to do some dangerous missions. Konohomaru-sama wouldn't have me doing this if I wasn't able to carry out my mission."

"Then let us help," Jiraiya said.

"No, I…" she stopped. "I don't want anyone that I love involved. You remember when I said you might not like me when you found out some of the things I've done? Well, this is it."

"Aria, we know better than that," Jiraiya said. "Kakashi was ANBU, and I…well, I've seen a lot of things, done more than you can imagine. We know how ugly missions can get. You won't shock us."

Aria had a particular look reminded Jiraiya of Kakashi more than any other. She could look guilty, confused, and just generally miserable at the same time.

"It isn't about trust," Aria said. "I just don't want anyone to see what I'm doing. I'm not proud of my work."

"When you can talk to us we're here," Jiraiya said. "I've noticed how you've changed after you started this research, and I don't like it."

"I don't either," she said, "but I'll do whatever I have to do to finish my mission."

She wasn't able to spend much time with them before her alarm went off. "I'm sorry," she said. "I have to go."

"I wish you'd let us help you," Kakashi said.

"You do help," Aria said. "You're here. That's helping."

When she got back to Orochimaru's house she set her mind toward work, but she hated every moment that it took.

"You're in a mood," Dog grumbled.

"I need to focus," Aria said. "Are you really sure you want to meet my Sensei? He's liable to kick you out."

"You can't do this alone," Dog said. "You're the one who decided to bring me into it."

They entered the lab and waited in the middle until the shadow began to form.

"Let me do the talking," Aria said. "I think it's dangerous."

The shadow formed and solidified, and it drifted across the floor at blinding speed, stopping in front of Dog. It stood almost nose to nose with him, and a low growl filled the room.

Aria felt her blood run cold, but Dog stood his ground and glared back at the entity.

"The Hokage ordered me to bring an ANBU into the project," Aria said.

Her sensei ignored her. "You are Hubris," it said to Dog.

"Or confidence," Dog said.

"So you think you can brave the unknown, Hubris?" it asked. "Are you ready to twist your own soul to gain power?"

"No," Dog said. "I'm ready to twist my own soul to follow orders if need be though, and I'm here to protect Aria."

Aria's sensei moved back silently, and it raised his hands, allowing something to flow from them. It was a dark energy that shot into Aria and Dog, pushing them backwards.

Aria and Dog were both knocked to the floor, but Dog was immediately on his feet and in a ready stance. He began to make hand signals and sent out a net of energy between himself and the shadow.

The spirit pushed against the net and was repulsed. It pushed against the netting again, and Dog pushed back with his palms against it.

Aria's sensei stepped back and cocked its head. "Is this how you want it Aria? I can break this, but I'd need to use enough chakra to damage this building severely, and it's a good lab. I'd hate to waste it."

"Dog, drop the net," Aria said.

Dog looked back at her while he kept his palms against the net, channeling chakra into it. "What?"

"If we stop now we'll lose all of our progress."

She bowed to her sensei. "We did not intend disrespect," she said. "We have to obey our Hokage, and Dog is obviously strong enough to handle this. I trust him. He won't betray us."

"Aria, what are you doing?" Dog asked.

"Salvaging the mission," she said.

"Drop the net or I'll kill you both," the spirit said. "I know things about the darkness that would make your nightmares have nightmares, Hubris, you arrogant child."

"Do it," Aria said. "I'm here to learn from him."

"I'd do anything to protect her," Dog said before he let the net drop. "Remember that."

"For your arrogance I'm going to teach you too, Hubris. Aria chose to be my student, and she hurts because the lessons are painful. You will hurt because I wish you to hurt."

Aria's Sensei cast a jutsu, the first she'd ever seen him use, and Dog gasped and staggered back, looking wildly about him.

"Dog, are you ok?" Aria asked.

Dog raised his hands and shakily made a sign. "Release!" he said, channeling chakra into himself.

"When this is finished, you and I are going to settle with each other, _Sensei,_ " Dog spat.

"The only reason I'm not killing you is that it's easier to use Aria than to start with another ninja, and it will amuse me to break your mind. I'm leaving now. I'll be back in a few days. Until then, enjoy the gift I gave you when I used that jutsu on you."

"What did you do?" Aria asked.

"You wanted my power so you could beat Orochimaru," the spirit said. "I just gave you some of it, the smallest amount to achieve my ends. You aren't ready for it, and you're going to find out what crossing me means."

"I don't want your power," Dog said.

"What you want is inconsequential," the spirit said. "You will learn humility at my hands, and then you will beg me to stop teaching you."

The spirit dissipated.

"What an asshole!" Dog said.

"That could have gone better," Aria said, "but at least we're alive."

"That's really your sensei?" Dog asked.

"Yes," she said. "I can't believe you stopped it."

"I am ANBU," Dog said. "I've had my share of mix-ups with mind-warping jutsus, and that's all that was. I think your sensei isn't nearly as strong as he pretends to be. I mean, he's good, but he's not the best."

"He's teaching me how to summon those spirits," Aria said.

"That doesn't mean he's powerful so much as knowledgeable. Have you seen him do anything besides attack me, and fail?"

"Well, no, but I just put it down to an annoying teaching style. Some Sensei's think being mysterious is the same as being wise."

"Or he's bluffing," Dog said.

"Either way, he's teaching me what I need to know."

"To do what though? Is he going to teach you to summon a supernatural army? And why?"

"I didn't care why when I started this," Aria said. "I just wanted to avenge my parents. He says that he's a ghost of a Konoha ninja, and he wants to help me fight Orochimaru."

"Let's get out of here," Dog said. "We should write up a report for the Hokage, and I have a headache."

"What did he do to you?" Aria asked.

"He showed me a desolate landscape where the math was all wrong. Angles that were impossible, triangles that were actually circles, that sort of thing. It was terrifying, but not that much different than most other jutsus used to create hallucinations. I'm strong against that sort of thing."

"Good thing, too," Aria said.

They sat at the kitchen table, trying to put what was happening into words.

"How much does the Hokage know?" Dog asked.

"Everything," Aria said. "Nothing like this has happened before. I mean, I've seen some disturbing things, but until now he's never tried to hurt me."

She was writing when something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention in what could optimistically be called a foyer. It was a slight movement, and when she looked it was gone, but for just a second she thought she saw a definite shape.

"Did you see that?" she asked Dog.

"I didn't see anything," Dog said. "What was it?"

"Probably nothing," Aria said. "I think I need some sleep."

She finished the report and went to bed, trying to stop thinking about work. She'd only been there about five minutes before she saw a movement in the corner, and she sat up, staring at what she could barely see.

It was the slightest shadow where it shouldn't be, a darker stain on the darkness. She slowly reached out and turned on the bedside lamp.

A shadow creature stood in the corner. It looked like her Sensei, but this was obviously far weaker, and there were other differences too.

Her Sensei was a fully formed, three dimensional being, but this new one was barely holding together. She could see through it.

It reached toward her, but it didn't move forward.

"What do you want?" Aria asked. She slowly pulled her kunai out from under her pillow.

The shadow faded, and she spent the rest of the night dozing lightly and waking at the slightest noise.

The next morning Dog fixed them both breakfast.

"Did you sleep ok last night?" Aria asked.

"Yes. You look like you didn't though."

"I saw something last night," she said, and she described the shadow to him.

On their way to turn in their reports they were both jittery, and after about five minutes Aria said, "tell me you see them too."

"Yes," Dog said. "What do you think they are?"

Aria studied the figures around her. They were just like the one from the previous night, insubstantial and flimsy. When they walked under the bright sunlight they were almost invisible, but when they moved under shade they looked almost exactly like the shadow she had seen in her bedroom.

None of the shadows seemed to notice them, but went about their business. Some walked around with purpose, some seemed to wander, but a lot of them simply stood still.

"Just pretend like you don't see them," Aria said.

As they went through the village they saw more shadows, and when they got to the Hokage tower they saw the shadows moving about in there as well.

When they were ushered into the Hokage's office Konohamaru took their report emotionlessly, without the recriminations Aria had expected.

"It sounds like you made some progress," he said. "Good job, Dog."

"Good?" Aria asked.

"This needed to happen," Konohamaru said. "It's been too long without progress, and I was starting to suspect that your Sensei wasn't going to teach you at all. At least things are moving forward, and we know that Dog can defend against its attacks."

"I'm not sure he used anywhere his full strength," Aria said.

"Neither did I," Dog said.

"There's more, Sir," Aria said. She described the shadow in her room, and the ones they'd passed on the way to the Tower.

"How very odd," Konohamaru said. "You might be under a jutsu even now – an odd one."

Aria saw a movement in the corner and looked, seeing a shadow.

"There's one right there," she said, pointing toward the corner.

As soon as she said it the shadow spirit turned toward her.

"I don't see it," Konohamaru said.

"I do," Dog said. "It isn't moving, but it's looking right at us – I think. It's hard to tell with them."

"This could be interesting. Keep me informed."

As they left they saw more of the spirits, and Aria suggested they find her father.

He was training alone behind Jiriaya's house, and when Aria asked for his help he went happily.

"It's difficult to explain," Aria said. "Can you look over there by that tree and tell me if you see anything unusual?"

"I don't see anything," Kakashi said. "What am I supposed to be looking for?"

"Could you look with the Sharingan?" Aria asked.

Kakashi looked, but he shook his head. "It would help if I knew what I was looking for."

"We're not sure ourselves," Dog said, "but there are entities, demons, ghosts, or I don't know what, and no one but me and Aria seem to be able to see them."

"Ok, you kids don't do drugs, do you?"

"No," Aria said.

"I could help you more if I knew what you're doing," Kakashi said. "I won't judge you harshly for doing something distasteful to help your village."

"I'm learning new techniques," Aria said. "It isn't that bad. Dog has proven that he can defend us if I need him."

"Then you've been attacked," Kakashi said.

"I didn't say that."

"You might as well have," Kakashi said. "Let me help you. Let someone help you."

"I'm safe," Aria said. "I don't think the person involved is as powerful as I thought. Dog dealt with him easily enough."

"Ok," Kakashi said hesitantly, "but always remember that I'm available, and that you have people who will help you."

"I know Dad. I'll remember."

"Why don't we have dinner later, or do you have plans?"

"I'm not sure," Aria said. "It depends how an experiment goes."

"I'll probably be back at Jiriaya's," Kakashi said.

On their way back to Orochimaru's house Aria and Dog tried to pretend they didn't notice the shadow spirits, but if one of them realized they were looking they would begin to move toward them very slowly. They made no aggressive movements, but it was unnerving in the extreme.

By the time they made it "home" they were running, trying to avoid the shadows, even though they weren't aggressive. They found that they could run directly through the spirits, but Aria thought it was like running through a cold, moist pocket of air.

Aria locked the door behind them and sat down on the ancient couch, raising a cloud of dust. She tried to ignore the man shaped shadow in the corner, which wasn't moving yet.

Dog brought two glasses of water and sat beside her. "You see it?" he asked.

"Yes," she said. "Don't talk about it. What should we do about all of this?"

"I think this is what…um…" Dog glanced at the shadow in the corner. "I think it's what your Sensei threatened us with, probably so we'll behave for him when he comes back."

The shadow reached toward them, and this time it moved away from the wall slightly.

"What do you want?" Dog asked. He started to make hand signs, and the shadow stepped back against the wall.

"I don't think it wants to attack us," Aria said.

"Maybe not," Dog said.

"I think it's the same one from last night. It has about the same shape, you know. The same general build, and you can kind of make out the hair."

The shadow reached toward them again, and it stepped out from the wall slightly.

Aria moved a small table close to it, staying out of arms reach. She brought blank paper and a pen, sat it on the paper, and moved away.

"What are you doing?" Dog asked.

"Just an idea," she said.

"Try to use it, if you can interact with physical objects," Aria said. "Who are you? What do you want?"

The shadow spirit looked down and reached very slowly toward the pen. Its hand went through the pen and table.

"What did you expect to happen?" Dog asked.

"Not much," Aria said. "He wants to communicate with us though. That's good to know. It's a start, anyway."

The shadow slowly faded away, but they saw another form by the kitchen doorway. "That's enough," Aria said. "I need to get out of here."

"Not much point," Dog said. "They're all over Konoha."

At three o'clock Aria and Dog went to the lab, hoping that the shadow spirit would come even though it said it wouldn't be back for a few days. When Aria's sensei arrived he leaned against the wall and folded his arms.

"We don't understand," Aria said. "What are you trying to teach us?"

The shadow said nothing.

"I'm listening," Aria said. "I just don't understand."

The spirit turned toward Dog.

"I don't know what you want," Dog said.

The spirit dissipated.

"What the fucking hell!" Dog said.

"I think it must be waiting for us to say the right thing," Aria said. "It didn't do this sort of thing until you became involved. Maybe you're the one it's trying to teach with all this."

"I have no idea what it wants me to say," Dog said. "I'm not the one that's been dealing with it."

"I'm not the one that got into a dick measuring contest with a ghost," Aria said.

"I'll remind you that I won," Dog said. "It backed down."

"It did, didn't it?" Aria said. "I don't think we can do anything more here. I'll try to call and contain an elemental later. That should help his mood."

When they left the lab one of the shadows was back, reaching toward them.

"It really wants to communicate with us," Aria said.

"There's the other one," Aria said, nodding toward the kitchen. It stood in the doorway, with its head cocked.

"Do they seem more defined than before?" she asked.

They were darker, more solid, and she could see vague areas of shading rather than all over black.

"He's like a sentinel," she said, looking toward the shadow that stood straight and still by the kitchen, posted as regularly as any ninja.

"And you," Aria said to the shadow in the corner. "You need something, don't you? Can't you feel it, Dog?"

"I don't feel anything," Dog said.

"I think this might be what Sensei was doing. I can feel his sadness, and something else. It's like he's trying to tell me something important. Yearning. Maybe it's from me being in touch with the elemental plane so often."

The next morning the shadows were there, one in the front room, and one posted by the kitchen. There weren't any in the kitchen, but she was so aware of their presence in the next room that she could practically feel them, like warm breath on the back of her neck.

Dog answered a summons from the Hokage, and Aria tried to focus on her notes, drawing the things she'd seen in the elemental plane, and trying to remember as many details as possible.

At 10:00 am her alarm went off, and she groaned. "Not now, Sensei." She didn't know why, but her Sensei had laid down specific times for her to visit, and if she missed one of them he became angry, something she felt she'd better keep from happening again.

When she entered the lab her Sensei was already there, and he was seething. His outline wavered and moved, becoming larger occasionally and then shrinking back to human sized.

It struck without warning, sending out a long, black tentacle that slashed her arm. She jumped back with a yelp just as tentacles encircled her wrists and ankles, pushing her against the wall.

She pulled her arm free and bit the tentacle holding her other arm, immediately creating a shield of hair around herself that sent out spikes toward her Sensei. Jiriaya's hair shield was one of her favorite jutsus.

The tentacles pulled away, and her Sensei hissed. Aria dropped the shield, ready to send another jutsu at him.

She was suddenly pulled into the jutsu that Dog had described, and she marveled at its complexity. Dog had misrepresented it. It was as he'd described, but what he hadn't mentioned was the desolate beauty.

She found herself in a desert, looking down from mountaintops that were covered in sand instead of snow. Great birds, or something like birds, flew far away. It wasn't the elemental plane. She was sure of that, but it wasn't reality as she knew it either.

The sand pulsated with life, moving as if it was an ocean, but she stood steadily.

"What do you want?" she yelled.

One of the birds came closer, and she as she began to make out details she saw that it was massive, and had a dog's head, with a massive amount of teeth that it bore in a snarl.

She pulled her kunai and waited, meeting it with a jump that landed her on the things head. She stabbed downward, directly into the brain, and it fell heavily. She jumped off and landed well, ready for the five more that came almost immediately after.

They weren't fast or smart, and she dispatched them quickly.

 _He's messing with me,_ she thought. _But why?_

She tried to remove herself from the jutsu, but no matter how much chakra she focused she couldn't escape. _I should be able to break this._

More birds came, and she fought off two more waves of them before she saw the sky darken. From the west a dark cloud spread, proving to be so many constructed birds that they shut off the light. By the time they reached her their cawing cries were deafening.

They set on her at once, and before she had even killed 10 one of them sank a huge talon into her stomach and pulled.

She looked down at blood and intestines spilling out of her just before more of the creatures sat upon her, tearing her flesh and eating her while she screamed until they destroyed her throat and she could scream no longer.

Suddenly they were gone, and she stood on a grassy meadow, whole but shaken. She could see the mountains far away, and the great army of birds above them.

"What do you want Sensei?" she yelled.

The birds turned and flew toward her, but instead of running she faced them. _I won't give him the pleasure of forcing me to run,_ she thought.

The birds tore her apart again, and again she reappeared on the mountain, looking at the grassy plain far below with the black creeping carpet of birds still tearing at her corpse.

She was suddenly back in the lab, and she wasted no time throwing shuriken at her Sensei, who dodged them easily and pulled back his tentacles, allowing them to sink into it and resuming a human shape.

It laughed. "Did you learn your lesson, child?"

Aria cast a quick jutsu on herself, one that strengthened her against reality bending jutsus. It wasn't fail safe, but it would make it stronger for at least half an hour, or until an attacker used a jutsu too powerful and broke it.

"Nice," her Sensei said. "Not good enough though. I tire of these games, and your disrespect. I easily pulled you into that jutsu, and I can take you to worse places if I wish."

"What do you want?" Aria asked. "You've never told me. You pretend that you want to help Konoha, but I don't believe you. If you don't start giving me some answers I'll seal the door with concrete and never come down here again."

The shadow was quiet for a few seconds. "You'd lose the chance for revenge."

"Revenge doesn't mean as much to me as it used to," Aria said. "I want to learn from you, but I won't let you hold your wisdom hostage. Tell me what you want."

"I want to kill Orochimaru," the spirit said. "He killed me."

"That makes sense. It's why you found me, I'm sure. But what have you been teaching me to do?"

"Prolonged exposure to the elemental plane is letting you tune in to its power, and the spirit world. They're closely related. I showed you a bit of what you can do with it. With my power you will summon a mighty army to pull down Orochimaru. After that I can move on to the afterlife, and I don't care what you do with your army. Rule the world if you want. It means nothing to me."

"Then we can continue?" Aria asked. "If we want the same things then why are you attacking me?"

"To show you a part of my strength," her Sensei said. "You disrespected me, and you had to be punished. I can do worse if I wish."

"I have to bring Dog back," Aria said, "by orders."

"Then put a leash on your Dog," her Sensei said, or I'll teach him some tricks. I was powerful before I died, almost enough to kill your father, and I grow more powerful by the day. Don't make me flex my muscles. You'll regret it."

"But what…?" she started.

"Enough with these questions," her Sensei said. "Come back tomorrow at the scheduled time, and then come prepared to humbly learn.

"Yes, Sensei," she said. _I have to make this work. There's too much to lose if he decides not to teach me._

"And teach Hubris to be quiet, before I teach him," the spirit snapped just before it dissolved into a mist of darkness and then nothing.

Aria nursed her bruises in her bedroom mirror. Her Sensei could have left worse, if he wanted to, but he had pulled the punch. She retrieved the med kit outside her lab, nodding to The Sentinel who nodded to her and stayed in his place by the kitchen, in eyesight of the door, her bedroom, and the lab.

 _Shouldn't have gone to Sensei without Dog_ , she thought.

The Sentinel had more definition than the last time she'd seen him. He was opaque, and she could just make out the outline of clothing and boots. He was still featureless, his dark ovoid of a face unfinished and disturbing.

"I wish I knew what you are watching for," she said. "Are you here for a reason?"

The Sentinel nodded.

"I hope you can tell me soon," Aria said.

He shook his head, and she went back into her room.

The spirit she thought of as The Yearner waited for her, near her bed, reaching toward her as always.

He had no more features than The Sentinel, but somehow he conveyed sadness and longing.

"You seem so sad," she said. "I wish I could help you."

She turned to put a bandage over the place where her Sensei had sliced her arm, but she stopped when she looked into the mirror.

The shadow spirit was gone, but in its place stood a man. He wore an outdated Konoha uniform, and his sad eyes spoke of a miserable life. He beckoned toward her with one arm, speaking earnestly but making no sound.

"Who...who are you?" she stammered.

He smiled, as if he realized she could finally see him.

She felt no fear of him. How could she? He looked almost like her father, except that he couldn't have been more than his early thirties, but the eyes and hair were unmistakable. The chin was broader and the eyes less lazy, but he could have almost passed for her father's double with time.

"Are you a relative?" she asked.

He nodded excitedly. "Are you…are you my uncle? You look so much like my father."

He shook his head. He tried to speak to her again, but no sound came. He suddenly looked toward the living room, and a fierce look came over him. He faded.

 _He looked like he was going to attack something,_ she thought.

The Sentinel was gone as well. She thought she should report to the Hokage, but she needed to know who that spirit in her bedroom was.

It took her a maddeningly long time to find her father, tracking his movements across Konoha by checking all the spots she knew of. Two hours later she found him wandering leisurely, reading instead of watching where he was walking.

"Dad! You're going to get killed that way!" she said.

He put the book in his pack and smiled. "I haven't yet."

"I need to ask you about our relatives. Did you have any that looked a lot like you? Cousins or something?"

"My grandfather, father, and I looked a lot alike," he said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because I think one of them visited me," she said. She described the spirit.

"That sounds like my father," Kakashi said, "but why him, and why now?"

"I think it has to do with my research," she said.

"You're researching ghosts?" Kakashi asked. "That's dangerous. Tell me you aren't trying to rediscover Orochimaru's secrets."

Aria waited for him to disown her as a necromancer, to turn his back on her in disgust.

"It's too dangerous!" Kakashi said. "I can't believe Konohamaru suctioned this."

"Then, you aren't disgusted with me?"

"No, but I'm worried," Kakashi said. "Show me."

"You want to see?" she asked. "But it's forbidden knowledge."

"Not forbidden enough, if you ask me. Jiraiya told me how much this research has affected you, and now I know why. Aria, tell me you haven't sacrificed anyone for this knowledge."

"Of course not!" she said. "That's why I'm working with him, because he promises that I can learn Orochimaru's tactics without human sacrifice."

"Wow. That just brings up so many questions. Who is he?"

"I'm not sure," Aria said. "I know he's a ghost that wants to kill Orochimaru, but not much more than that."

"You're letting a ghost guide you?" Kakashi asked. "If I'd been here instead of in a coma I could have guided you better than this. I'm so sorry."

"I made my choice, and I knew what the consequences could be. And besides, if that really is my grandfather that I saw I need to help him. He looks so miserable."

"He would," Kakashi said. "His life was very bad towards the end."

"Jiraiya told me what happened," Aria said. "I know all about it."

Kakashi remembered finding his father on the floor, stiff and cold, his intestines spilled out before him.

"No," Kakashi said. "You know _of_ it. There are no words to convey what it was like to watch him wither away. He deserved better. I don't know why his spirit is still here."

"I've seen other spirits around Konoha," Aria said. "Maybe a lot of them don't move on."

"Take me to him, if that's who it is," Kakashi said.

"I don't think you'll be able to see him," Aria said. "I couldn't until I looked at him in the mirror."

She stopped in the entrance and pointed toward the kitchen. "There's one of them there. He just stands there, doesn't try to interact."

The other spirit had moved back into the front room, standing against the wall and holding an arm out towards them.

"He's there," Aria said, "always reaching toward me, as if he wants something."

"I see…something," Kakashi said, "but not much, just a slight shadow where there shouldn't be one."

Aria fetched a hand mirror and held it up. "Can you see him now?"

"Yes," Kakashi said. "A shape, I think I can see a uniform, but no features."

"He's trying to talk," Aria said. "He's always trying to talk to me. I think Sensei did something that will make the spirits more solid. If you can begin to see them who knows what might be happening."

Aria's alarm went off. "I have to go," she said.

"Your Sensei is in there?" Kakashi asked. "That's why you've been so secretive, isn't it?"

"It isn't like I could explain this easily," she said.

"I'm going in," Kakashi said.

"That isn't a good idea," Aria said.

"Would you rather I have a talk with the Hokage?" Kakashi asked. "I've been gone for some time, but I still have some pull around here."

"This is my project," Aria said.

"And it's out of control," Kakashi said. He looked at the shadow against the wall. "And now it might have dead family involved. My father deserves to rest, not this insanity. You don't know what it was like for him, or me. Everyone turned their back on him, even me, and I can finally do something for him now."

"Dad you can't do this. Sensei attacked us when I took Dog in there with me."

"All the more reason you can't go in there alone. Where is Dog, anyway?"

"He had to report to the Hokage."

The alarm sounded again.

"Let's go," she said. "I can't wait any longer."

They climbed down into the lab, and Kakashi immediately opened the Sharingan. When Aria's Sensei began to materialize Kakashi moved forward, stepping in front of Aria. "If things go south leave him to me. I've dealt with much worse than a rogue spirit before."

When it formed a human shape it began to laugh. "You!" it said. "Hello, old _friend._ I thought you were in a coma. How amusing."

"What have you been doing to my daughter?" Kakashi asked.

"Teaching her," the spirit said. "We have the same goals. Even if she doesn't need to avenge your lost life, she still needs to kill Orochimaru for her mother's sake. Dear Sakura-chan wanted to avenge you, but she screamed so when she died. Orochimaru gave her so much pain."

Aria gasped. "You were there?"

Kakashi forced himself to control his rage. "Who are you?" he asked.

"The one who can teach you to kill Orochimaru. That's all that matters."

"No," Aria said. "You never said you were there. Who are you?"

"Lately you have lacked the respect due to a teacher," the spirit said. "I will discipline you if this continues."

"Lately I've been questioning your motives," Aria said.

The spirit moved toward them, and the black energy flowed from it again, throwing Aria into a hallucination.

Kakashi saw her eyes roll back into her head, and a black fog overcome her. She turned toward him and pulled a weapon, slowly beginning an attack which he easily evaded.

A less experienced ninja would have dealt with Aria first, but Kakashi merely pushed her aside and used the Sharingan to examine the spirit.

He saw chakra, and lots of it – dark chakra. He knocked the weapon out of Aria's hand and grabbed her, throwing her over his back. He climbed to the exit, with her struggling all the way, and shut the huge door behind them.

He pushed chakra into her. "Release!"

Her eyes cleared, but the black fog remained. "Father?" she asked. She struck at him clumsily, and he pinned her down.

"I can't control my body!" she said.

The Yearner was behind Kakashi, so he didn't see the spirit tear itself away from the wall. It moved sluggishly, as if trodding through mud, and when it reached them it kneeled by her.

It put a hand on her forehead, and Kakashi heard a very faint, "Release!" It was his father's voice, thin and raspy, as if coming from far away, but recognizable.

The fog lifted, and Aria stopped struggling. As the fog lifted Sakumo's form became more substantial, until he was recognizable even without Aria's powers, if hazy and still not completely opaque.

"Dad?" Kakashi asked. "Is it really you?"

The spirit nodded.

"Do you know what happened to her?"

It nodded again, and it pointed toward the door.

"The Deceiver," Sakumo said, almost too quietly for either of them to hear.

"He is, isn't he," Aria said sadly. Aria saw him plainly, sad and lost looking. She held the mirror up for Kakashi.

"I don't need it," Kakashi said. "Dad, I don't know what to say. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you that since you died."

Sakumo smiled and held his arms toward Kakashi. He moved to put his arms around him in a hug, but they went through him.

His lips moved silently, and Kakashi could only make out one word. "Forgiven."

The other shadow moved toward them, and Aria looked up to see a serious, tall ninja with deep scars under his eyes, as if he was so burdened with sorrow that lack of sleep had permanently left its marks on him. His eyes were dark and hollow, and unlike her grandfather he showed no affection.

"Why are you here?" she asked.

He nodded quickly toward the door, a quick, birdlike motion.

"Are you a relative too?" she asked.

The spirit laughed, an echo and mockery of happiness.

"Itachi," Kakashi said. "You should have been at rest long ago."

Itachi gestured angrily toward the lab door.

"Has Sensei entrapped you here?" Aria asked.

Itachi began to speak rapidly, and with increasing agitation, but they could make out little of what he had to say. They got the idea that Itachi had a particular hatred for her Sensei.

When Itachi calmed down and realized they couldn't understand him he went back to his spot in the doorway and leaned against it, sullen. He breathed heavily and wiped his brow as if the effort had been too much for him.

"He holds us," Sakumo said. He said a few other things that neither Aria nor Kakashi understood.

"We can only understand you if you speak slowly and clearly," Aria said.

"There is a curse on Konoha," Sakumo said slowly as Aria and Kakashi strained to hear him. "Something holds us here." Sakumo stopped and sighed. "Trying to talk is exhausting."

"Rest then," Kakashi said. "We need to have a talk with the Hokage."

"Dad…" Aria began.

"This is far past anything you can deal with, and I have no experience with ghosts."

"If we can see them, then we might be able to see Sensei," Aria said.

"Absolutely not," Kakashi said.

"If you know both of these spirits you might know whatever is in there," Aria said. "He knows you. We could take the Hokage better information."

"Mmm… He will want whatever intel we can bring him, but you're too susceptible to his attacks. Stay up here and monitor the situation."

"You're going in alone?" Aria asked.

"No," Sakumo said. "He isn't. I am recovered."

Kakashi looked at his father, and he began to feel adrenaline rush through him.

"I'm going too," Itachi said.

Aria opened the hatch for them. "I don't even know if he'll come."

Kakashi climbed down, and Itachi and Sakumo floated downward. For some reason Kakashi found it disturbing.

As soon as Kakashi's feet hit the floor Aria's Sensei began to take form.

"Kabuto!" Kakashi hissed. "You were there when Sakura died? You filth!"

"Now, is that any way to greet an old friend?" Kabuto asked. "And you brought a couple of _lesser_ beings with you. How…quaint."

Kakashi wasted no time with idle chatter and ran toward Aria's Sensei, hitting it with a chidori, hoping that Kabuto was solid enough to be hurt by electricity. The spirit didn't even try to dodge the attack, but laughed as the lightning bolt shot through him.

The bolt struck the wall behind Kabuto, and Kakashi felt a back surge of energy, knocking him across the room and onto his back, where he lay stunned. His arm was numb and useless, and he looked in surprise at the blackened skin of his burned arm.

Sakumo and Itachi charged toward Kabuto, Sakumo on the right and Itachi on the left. Kabuto almost managed to dodge their attacks, but while evading Itachi's punch he fell into Sakumo's attack. Sakumo swung his arm in a cutting motion, and a saber of white chakra spread from it, slicing into Kabuto and sending him flying. Kabuto sat against the wall and held a hand to his chest, where a long slash leaked black fluid.

"I'm on your side!" Kabuto said.

"I don't remember you being on anyone's side," Itachi said.

"I want to kill Orochimaru too," Kabuto said.

"Leave my granddaughter out of it then," Sakumo said.

"It's too late for that," Kabuto said. "She's in it now, and I couldn't stop the progression if I wanted to. She'll see the spirits, and they'll become corporeal because of her. _I'll_ become corporeal, and then I'll have my revenge."

Sakumo glanced back at Kakashi. He sat in the middle of the room, cradling his injured arm, dazed and pale. His hair stood on end, and a long black burn ran up his arm that looked like the branches of a lightning strike.

"Can you take care of this Itachi? I need to see to my son."

Itachi nodded. "If we can hurt you we can kill you, Kabuto. I don't know what would happen to you, but unless you want to find out you'd better be cooperative."

"Don't you want to kill Orochimaru for what he did to Sasuke?" Kabuto said, "how he took him and poisoned his mind?"

"You will not speak of my brother," Itachi said. "My spirit was dragged back to Konoha, to this place, and I think it's because of Orochimaru. I recognized his style in the jutsu. I want to kill him so I can leave."

Sakumo knelt by Kakashi. "Can you walk?" he asked. "I can't interact with physical objects, and we need to get you to a medic."

"I'll be fine," Kakashi said. "I think the wall is reactive to chakra. It makes sense that it would be. The wall must have absorbed some of the jutsu, or I'd be dead."

"How well do you know this Kabuto?" Sakumo asked.

"He's a dead enemy," Kakashi said, "insane, but focused. Completely untrustworthy."

"Then I'll dispatch him," Sakumo said.

Itachi stopped him. "We should get all the information we can first."

Sakumo looked back toward Kakashi and swung at Kabuto, severing his head from his shoulders. "Odd, but I find that I have less patience with this sort of thing than I did when I was alive."

"That was a waste!" Itachi said.

"He tortured my granddaughter and wounded my son," Sakumo said.

"Duty comes first," Itachi said.

"We're dead," Sakumo said. "I don't know about you, but I swore a lifetime of service, and that's been finished long ago. I'm only interested in helping Aria and moving on."

"We belong to Konoha," Itachi said.

Kakashi stood, trying unsuccessfully to move the fingers on his right hand. They twitched, and moved up to the knuckle, but he couldn't have made hand signs.

"At least Kabuto is one less problem," he said. "I just need to find a way to reverse whatever he did to Aria."

He was too unsteady to climb the wall, so he had to crawl up it clumsily without using his injured arm, unlocking the hatch, but he couldn't open it. He used the intercom. "Aria, I need you to open the door from the outside."

He climbed out of the fel laboratory and sat on the ancient couch nearby.

"What happened to your arm?" Aria asked.

"Hit the wall with a jutsu," Kakashi said. "Bad idea. Caught a bad electrical shock." He leaned back, ignoring the foul musk of the couch. "Let me sit for a few minutes and I'll go to the hospital." He closed his eyes. "It's nothing Sakura can't fix."

Aria's breath caught at her mother's name.

Dog came in and immediately entered a ready stance. "What happened?" he asked. "Brief me."

His eyes fell on Sakumo. "Holy Shit!"

"It's ok," Aria said. "They're the least of our worries. Sensei is furious, and Dad is injured."

"Your Sensei is dead, or deader than he was," Sakumo said. His voice was stronger to Aria's ears, almost normal.

"Sensei is dead?" Aria said. "But how?"

"Apparently we can attack each other," Sakumo said, "but we can discuss that later. Kakashi took a bad hit, or rather he seems to have had a jutsu bounce back on him."

He tried to run his hand through Kakashi's hair, but his hand moved through it. "So strange," Sakumo muttered. "To see my son as old as this."

"Dog, stay here with them," Aria said. "I'll get a medic."

She ran for a medic berating herself all the way. _What if he slips back into a coma? That burn looked really bad, and that odd lightening like black mark up his arm. What was that?_

She ran past citizens of Konoha that had light shine through them as if through dark water. The living Konoha citizens were screaming and running in terror from the apparitions, who were trying to calm the people around them. Some of the spirits were weeping, and Aria noticed that they all wore uniforms.

She had difficulty getting a medic to come with her until she mentioned Kakashi's name, and then one left immediately. He was awake when she returned, lying on the couch and obviously in pain. Sakumo hovered anxiously near him, and Itachi leaned in the doorway to the kitchen, looking disinterested and bored.

The medic gasped when he saw them. "Sprits here as well? I can see them so clearly. What are they?" he asked.

"Ghosts," Dog snapped. "Ignore them and do your job."

Sakumo moved aside, out of the medic's eyesight, and in the medic's defense he only glanced once at the odd specters and then focused on his work.

Kakashi grimaced as the healing chakra entered his arm.

"The burn is easily dealt with, but you have nerve damage," the medic said. "You'll have to see a specialist. Can you walk to the hospital, or should I get a stretcher sent here?"

"I can walk," Kakashi said. "I need to report before I go to the hospital."

The medic nodded. "You aren't in any danger."

"Let's go," Kakashi said. "I hope Konohamaru-sama has some idea of how to deal with this."

"I'll give you some pain meds," the medic said.

"It can wait," Kakashi said. "I want my mind clear for this."

The medic put Kakashi's arm in a sling. "You need to get to the hospital when you can."

As they walked to the Hokage tower Aria wondered how he could hide the pain he must have been experiencing. He walked with ramrod straight posture, and she could tell he was grinding his teeth, but otherwise he showed no signs of distress.

Konohamaru was issuing orders to ninjas, but when he saw Aria his eyes narrowed. "Is this your doing?" he asked. "Was this the result of your research? Get in my office now, all three of you."

Konohamaru glowered at Aria after their report. "You couldn't wait for Dog to get back? You had to do this alone? What were you thinking?"

"I made some mistakes," Aria said.

"With your Sensei dead this mission is a failure," Konohamaru said. "Shut it down and raze the building. Fill that lab in with concrete and be done with it."

"Thank you sir," Aria said.

"Yes, well, it was a long shot, and I'm glad to be done with it."

"I don't know what we'll do about the spirits," Kakashi said. "They're in pain."

"I don't like our ninjas being bound to such a dark existence," Konohamaru said. "You're mission parameters have changed. Focus on helping the spirits of Konoha find peace. This is a disaster."

"I think they're all Konoha ninjas," Aria said. "Perhaps if you addressed them they might obey."

Konohamaru left with Kakashi, Aria, and Dog. The ANBU and Jounins had succeeded in calming many of the Konoha citizens, but no one was easy. Many of the dead tried to communicate with the living, but few wanted to hear them. Most huddled in fear near living ninjas, hoping for protection.

Konohamaru raised his hands. "Konoha spirits! As your Hokage I demand answers. One of you approach and give me intel."

An old man moved forward. "Grandfather?" Konohamaru asked. "Is that you?"

Sarutobi nodded. "I see that some of you wear old uniforms," he said to the spirits. I don't know what holds us here, but I do know that our last duty to Konoha can be dispatched by ending this jutsu."

"Aria, tell them what you've learned," Konohamaru said. "The secret is far past revealed at this point."

Aria spoke loudly so that they could all hear her. "You have been made corporeal through a spirit that's been destroyed. A ninja named Orochimaru trapped you here somehow."

Sarutobi pointed toward the center of the village. "Follow me. I'll show you what he did."

In the center of the village, in a park dedicated to the first Hokage, a black obelisk stood. "That's never been there before," Konohamaru said.

"You couldn't see it," Sarutobi said, "but that's what holds us here. If you destroy it the jutsu will fade, and we can leave."

A clamor set up among the spirits, with many of them saying they weren't ready to leave yet. "It has to happen," Konohamaru yelled. "The curse must end."

The crowd of spirits became agitated, arguing among themselves, and several moved in front of the obelisk and stood with arms crossed before them, guarding it.

"I am the Hokage among the dead here," Sandaime told Konohamaru. He held up a hand. "Here me!" he yelled. "Go find your friends and families and make peace. Tomorrow at sunset we destroy the obelisk."

The ninjas who were guarding the obelisk looked down in embarrassment and stepped aside as their Hokage moved toward the monument. "If we allow Orochimaru to keep us here, then he wins. No one knows what foul plans he has for us. Would you allow him to use you against your kindred? To rise up as an unclean army and destroy all that you've loved? No. Rather we shall go together into the afterlife and embrace whatever waits for us as warriors and scholars."

A cheer rose from the crowd. That night and the next day all business stopped in Konoha as the spirits found their loved ones and friends and wished them farewell.

Kakashi and Aria spent the day with Sakumo, and they healed as much as they could. A few hours before sunset, Sakumo asked, "where do you suppose that Itachi went?"

"I don't know," Kakashi said. "He doesn't have any family."

"We should find him," Sakumo said. "No one should be alone at a time like this. Do you know him well?"

"I fought him once," Kakashi said. "I've spoken with him a few times. I don't think anyone knows him well. Dad, you always had a kind heart, but couldn't you be selfish just this once? We'll never see you again."

"He fought beside us," Sakumo said, "and when I could think only of my own needs he thought of Konoha. I came to this house because of Aria. He was already here; I don't know why, but we shared this house for years together. Let's find him. We can go together."

"I know where he probably went," Kakashi said.

They walked to the Uchiha Compound, noticing how empty the streets of Konoha were as everyone spent their last day with the departed.

Itachi was at his home, the home Sasuke had insisted on staying in, even though he could have moved out at any time into many homes of ninjas who wanted to be attached to the last of the Uchiha line.

Kakashi knocked on the open door. "Itachi, are you in here?"

A sharp laugh came from Sasuke's room. "Are you haunting me now?" he asked.

"Stay here," Sakumo said. He went to Sasuke's room, pushing open the door, slightly surprised when it moved instead of allowed him to pass through.

It was a child's room, with typical childish things in it, a small bed, walls painted blue, one single stuffed bear on the bedside table.

But it was covered in dust and cobwebs. Rats had eaten at the comforter on the bed, and the bear was old and rotten.

"Is this really the last thing you want to see?" Sakumo asked. "Kakashi said you had no family. Stay with us until it's time."

Itachi said nothing.

"Did you have a son?" Sakumo asked. "Was this his room?"

"It was my brother's room," Itachi said.

"You must have been close," Sakumo said.

"Yes. He killed me."

"Ah," Sakumo said, unsure what to say to comfort such a lost spirit.

"I miss him," Itachi said. "I miss them all, but I'll have no place among them."

He motioned toward the door angrily. "I want to be alone with the wreckage that I caused."

Sakumo left and shook his head at Aria and Kakashi. "I was wrong. Let's go."

They walked until the sun set, with Sakumo between them, and they slowly headed toward the park when the sun had just reached the horizon.

Konohamaru and Sandaime were there. Asuma was there as well, and all of them wore their sadness openly. It was unusual, but everyone allowed themselves tears, hugs, whatever they needed at such an unprecedented time.

Konohamaru looked at the assembled spirits and citizens. "Thank you for your service," Konohamaru said. "May you all fare well in the afterlife, and we will find you there."

He raised a large hammer and swung it down on a black box, large enough to fit a good sized hound in it. The hammer went through the box.

Sandaime took the hammer. "It's not a thing for the living," he said. He swung the hammer, and the box shattered, letting loose a blinding light. When the living opened their eyes, all of the spirits were gone, with nothing left behind to show they had ever existed.

Konohamaru wiped a few tears away. "How few people get to see their family off like that?"

The village was subdued, silent as if in grief. Kakashi and Aria walked back to Orochimaru's house, where Dog was waiting for them. "I thought you'd come back," he said.

"You weren't with family?" Aria asked.

"No one I cared about was trapped here, as far as I could determine," he said. "I wanted to be here when you get back."

Aria looked up at the familiar house, the pretty exterior hiding so much rot and sadness. When she went in Jiraiya was waiting for her, resting on the couch and looking at the lab door with intensity.

"You doing ok?" he asked her. "Konohamaru-sama sent me here to guard this place. He didn't say why, just that he wanted me here.

"It's over," Aria said. "The experiment was a failure, and he told me to burn the place to the ground."

The next day some of the strongest ninjas in the world stood in front of a non-descript house with a pretty flower garden and a dark past. The neighbors stood around and muttered as they watched Dog, Naruto, Hinata, Aria, Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade outside Orochimaru's house.

"You didn't have to come here," Aria said.

"Nonsense dear," Hinata said. "This poisonous place has affected all of us, and we want to see it destroyed. We want to see you get your life back."

"Don't you want to get anything out?" Dog asked.

Aria pictured every room in the house, the rotting kitchen, the front room with the musty couch and not much else, and her bedroom with the thrift store furniture she'd bought to sleep on something other than a cot. The cracked mirror on the wall where she'd first seen her grandfather and his misery.

"They can destroy it with the house."

"I went through and checked for traps," Kakashi said, "anything nasty that might not have been found. It's clear. It should be safe to burn now."

The firefighters arrived on time and set up. "They're going to use it for training purposes," Aria said. "I thought about just having it torn down, but this seems more appropriate."

"The last thing this house ever does is help Konoha by being a training burn," Jiraiya said. "I like that. It's poetic."

The house went up quickly, and the firefighters contained the blaze but allowed the building to burn to the ground, as they had been ordered to.

When they house was out, one of the firefighters stepped forward while the rest stood back. He wore the firefighter uniform, but he had the Konoha seal on the back. He sent out a jutsu of ice that coated everything and pushed the rubble into a heap.

All that was left was the lab, standing tall among the rubble, monolithic and foreboding.

"I thought that might happen," Aria said. "There's going to be a cement truck come and fill it in. Nothing foul will ever come from this place again."

"What now?" Dog asked.

"I don't know, but I'm going to ask to be reassigned to something as unlike this mission as possible."

"I guess I don't work for you anymore then," Dog said. He pulled off his mask, pulled Aria into his arms and kissed her.

"It's about damn time," Jiraiya muttered.


End file.
